Trade and investment, defence and security and maritime cooperation will be on the agenda for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Malaysia during February 7-8, with the two sides looking to set an agenda for future engagements and growing business ties.
Modi, who is visiting at the invitation of his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim, will hold bilateral talks and interact with industry and business representatives and the Indian community, the external affairs ministry said while announcing the visit. The 10th India-Malaysia CEOs Forum is scheduled to coincide with the visit.
The visit will be an opportunity for both leaders to review bilateral cooperation, including trade and investment, defence, security and maritime cooperation, digital and financial technology, energy, healthcare, education, tourism and people-to-people ties, and to set the path for future engagement, the ministry said.
India and Malaysia elevated their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Anwar’s visit to New Delhi in August 2024. The visit helped reset bilateral ties, characterised by shades of rancour witnessed during the tenure of Anwar’s predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.
Malaysia is India’s third largest trading partner in the Asean grouping, and two-way trade was worth $20 billion in 2023-24. Malaysian investments in India, including third party routes, are estimated at $3.3 billion, and Malaysian construction companies have their largest foreign presence in India. Bilateral ties are further strengthened by a 2.9-million Indian diaspora in Malaysia, the world’s third largest.
During Anwar’s visit to India in 2024, the two sides signed a crucial pact on recruitment and employment conditions for Indian workers, and decided to connect India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with Malaysia’s Payments Network (PayNet) for digital payments. The agreement on recruitment was key to Indian efforts to protect the rights of 185,000 Indian workers in Malaysia.
Bilateral defence ties have also grown steadily, ranging from from military training to supply of defence equipment.India’s state-run defence aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) opened its first regional office in Kuala Lumpur in 2023.
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