AFP, KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) Oct 09, 2003
Russia will buy 300 million dollars worth of palm oil and send a Malaysian into space as part of a billion-dollar deal for 18 Sukhoi 30-MKM fighter jets, a minister said Thursday.
Payment will be made over five years, with the fighters due for delivery in 2006-7, Deputy Defence Minister Mohamad Shafie Apdal told parliament.
The Russian government has agreed to buy palm oil to the value of 30 percent of the contract price, which also includes the setting up of a service centre in Malaysia and sending the country's first astronaut into space, Mohamad Shafie said.
Malaysia is the world's largest palm oil producer, accounting for about half of global output, while the space flight reflects Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's drive to bring Malaysia into the mainstream of scientific and technological development.
Malaysia agreed to purchase the fighters earlier this year to join the Russian-made MiG-29Ns, US-made FA-18/Ds and the British-made Hawks in the country's combat aircraft fleet.
They form part of a major arms spree which has seen the Southeast Asian nation ordering French submarines for 972 million dollars, British and Russian missile systems for 364 million dollars and Polish attack tanks worth 368 million dollars.
The government is also in talks with Boeing over the possible purchase of 18 F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter aircraft, to replace the existing batch of F/A-18D Hornet jets.
The shopping spree has sparked fears of a regional arms race but Malaysia has said it is simply upgrading its defences after weapons procurement programmes were derailed by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
