NEW DELHI: A number of agreements are expected to be signed between India and Malaysia during Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to New Delhi next week, according to Indian media reports.
Trade, investment, technology, regional security, labour, defence and tourism are likely to figure prominently during the discussions Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have with Anwar, the reports said.
It is the first prime ministerial visit to India from Malaysia since 2018.
Anwar travelled to India in January 2019 to participate in a conference in New Delhi and had a meeting with Modi at that time, but it will be his first visit to the country since becoming prime minister in 2022.
The Indian media highlighted strong bilateral economic relations, with the value of trade during the 2022-23 (April-March) fiscal year at around US$20 billion.
“India and Malaysia are in the process of firming up a framework for conducting trade in national currencies as well,“ the Indian Express newspaper reported.
It said the two sides are also “initiating a process to review the 12-year-old Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to include new domains and items”.
A key subject of the discussions will be recruitment of Indian workers by Malaysia.
“One of the most important agreements set to be inked is a memorandum of understanding on recruitment, employment and repatriation of workers,“ the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.
There are 185,000 Indian expatriates in Malaysia, the reports said, citing official data.
India is one of Malaysia’s top sources of tourists and accounted for 671,846 in 2023, while the number of Malaysians visiting India was 334,579 in 2019 before the numbers plummeted due to the pandemic.
Malaysian and Indian carriers operate 210 weekly flights between India and Kuala Lumpur offering 37,276 seats.
Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare has invested in Indian hospitals and Petronas has significant projects in the energy sector.
Malaysian companies have handled major road and airports projects in India.
Anwar is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Towards a Rising Global South – Leveraging on Malaysia-India Ties” at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA), a Foreign Ministry-affiliated think-tank during the visit.
