When the gypsy music stopped, the host rose from the table and began to tell his guests of the virtues of squid with mayonnaise. "It exerts a favorable influence on metabolism," he said, "and is prescribed for persons with heart problems." The setting was Kuala Lumpur's Hotel Mirama, and the host was a man from Prodintorg, the Soviet agency in charge of food exports. He was promoting Russian seafood, but the sales luncheon was neither a gastronomic nor a commercial success. Oily sardines were served with Georgian brandy so medicinal-tasting that it is sometimes known as "Stalin's Revenge." There was also dry shrimp with sweet champagne, sea kale and vegetables in tomato sauce and seven other tinned seafoods—but no bread or crackers to go with them. The Soviet sales luncheon has become increasingly familiar in Southeast Asia, where the Russians are pressing an economic offensive. This week they will wind up their most ambitious effort, a three-week trade fair in Kuala Lumpur. Elsewhere, the Russians have recently formed a joint shipping company with businessmen in Singapore, made trade overtures to the Philippines, welcomed a Thai trade delegation in Moscow and expanded Aeroflot plane service in many parts of Asia.
Price Yes, Quality No. Southeast Asia presents a target of opportunity to the Russians, a chance to increase their influence as the British and U.S. military presence recedes. The Soviet drive also stems from Leonid Brezhnev's call last June for a new Asian security arrangement aimed against the Chinese, and from Russia's pressing need to overcome a serious trade deficit with some Southeast Asian countries. Trouble is, the Southeast Asian market is highly competitive and tough to crack—and Moscow is accustomed to government-to-government deals. When forced to compete on the open market, Ivan can be a terrible salesman.
The Russians' profit from their splashy fair at Kuala Lumpur came chiefly in the form of experience. They crammed 2,000 exhibits into one building: textiles, semiprecious stones, machine tools, and mammoth red "Padi Harvesting Combines"—which are wheat combines converted for use in rice paddies. They also stocked shelves of books by Marx, Lenin and Engels but removed them after a government reminder that most are banned in Malaysia. "We're here to sell," said Dimitri V. Bekleshov, the gray-suited vice president of Vneshtorgreklama, the export agency's ad company. "Our tractors are better than the American Caterpillars." The advertising was also hardsell, and rich in unintended humor. Sample Aeroflot slogan: "And you've heard of Russian hospitality (some people never quite recover from it)."