India-Malaysia ties have taken upward swing since Anwar Ibrahim assumed office: MEA

The relationship between India and Malaysia has taken an upward swing ever since Anwar Ibrahim assumed office in 2022 and there have been over 15 bilateral visits between the two nations at the level of Minister or Deputy Minister, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.

Malaysia PM Ibrahim, who is on his first visit to India since assuming office, comes at a time when India and Malaysia have marked around 10 years of enhanced strategic partnership.

“This is the first visit of PM Ibrahim to India as the Prime Minister and it assumes significance firstly, because it is his first visit as PM since he took over at the end of 2022, secondly also the fact that we are nearly 10 years of our enhanced strategic partnership with Malaysia which was announced when PM Narendra Modi had visited Malaysia in 2015,” MEA Secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

He said that PM Modi and Malaysia PM Ibrahim developed a very “close rapport and personal connection” during the Raisina Dialogue 2019.

“As you would have seen from the press statement between the two leaders earlier today, it was marked by great warmth and personal rapport between the two leaders. PM Anwar Ibrahim, when he was not yet in office, had visited India in 2019 for the Raisina Dialogue when he had called on PM Narendra Modi and they had developed a very close rapport and personal connection which was very much visible in the interactions that they had and the way forward that they have charted for the two countries,” Mazumdar said.

“In fact, they decided that they would enhance the relationship between India and Malaysia to a comprehensive, strategic partnership,” he added.

The MEA Secretary emphasized that the two leaders held extensive discussions on multiple topics including trade and commerce, defence and security as well as, people-to-people ties.

“Since PM Anwar Ibrahim (of Malaysia) has assumed office in 2022, our relationship has really taken an upward swing. There have been more than 15 bilateral visits at the level of Minister or Deputy Minister and this is reflected in a very wide range of engagements that we have today between India and Malaysia and the chart that we have charted for the relationship going forward,” Mazumdar said.

“Today, they had extensive discussions on trade and commerce, on defence and security, on cultural exchanges, people to people ties, on emerging areas like digital technologies, semiconductors, renewable energy and sustainable development…the Indian diaspora is the third largest in the world, numbering to be around 3 million and it is the second largest PIO community numbering about 2.75 million,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the ties between India and Malaysia will be elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

PM Modi further said that the investment from Malaysia to India reached over 5 billion dollars last year.

In a joint press statement with his Malaysian counterpart at Hyderabad House in Delhi, PM Modi said, “After becoming the PM, this is the first visit of Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim. I am happy to have the opportunity to welcome you at the beginning of my third term. India and Malaysia are completing a decade of partnership and in the last two years, with the support of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, our partnership has gained a new momentum and energy.”

Before the joint press statements, India and Malaysia exchanged MoUs and Agreements in the presence of Prime Minister Modi and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at Hyderabad House here in the national capital.

PM Modi also held a bilateral meeting with visiting Malaysian counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim at the Hyderabad House. The discussions between the two leaders were held to further deepen engagement across various domains of partnership between India and Malaysia.