New Delhi: The Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar bin Ibrahim, who is on a three-day State Visit to India, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday morning, ahead of holding bilateral talks with PM Narendra Modi.
The Malaysian PM is on his first visit to India as Prime Minister.
The MEA spokesperson in a post on X said that the Malaysian PM was warmly received by PM Modi at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“A special beginning to an important visit!
“PM @narendramodi warmly received PM @anwaribrahim of Malaysia in a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“Malaysia is a key pillar of India’s Act East Policy and a valued partner in the region.”
PM Anwar Ibrahim also went to lay a wreath at the Raj Ghat. EAM S Jaishankar will pay a courtesy call on him.
Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim and PM Modi are set to hold restricted talks at Hyderabad House followed by a one-on-one meeting. The two sides will exchange several MoUs.
The two leaders will deliver their press statements. Later, PM Modi will host lunch for the visiting dignitary.
Later in the day, PM Anwar will deliver a lecture titled ‘Towards a Rising Global South: Leveraging Malaysia-India ties” at Sapru House.
He will also interact with the Malaysian diaspora at the High Commission of Malaysia in India.
This is the Malaysian PM’s first visit to India since he assumed office in November 2022.
PM Anwar Ibrahim, who arrived last night, is accompanied by Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo and Human Resources Minister Steven Sim.
Malaysia-India relations were elevated to enhanced strategic partnership in 2015.
PM Anwar and his delegation will also take part in a roundtable meeting with Indian industry leaders.
Prime Minister Anwar is also scheduled to call on President Droupadi Murmu.
India and Malaysia have strong historical and socio-cultural linkages. Our bilateral relationship was elevated to the status of Enhanced Strategic Partnership in 2015 during the visit of Prime Minister Modi.
As both countries enter the second decade of Enhanced Strategic Partnership next year, the visit of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim would pave way for further strengthening of India-Malaysia bilateral ties by charting out a multi-sectoral cooperation agenda for the future, a statement said.
Malaysia hosts 2.75 million People of Indian Origin, which is the second largest PIO community in the world after the US and the third largest Indian diaspora in the world (2.9 million).
The number of PIOs comprises 6.8% of Malaysia’s population. 90% of PIOs speak Tamil and the rest speak Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, etc. There are approx. 185,000 NRIs both skilled and unskilled in Malaysia. Illegal Immigration, exploitation at workplaces, exploitation of Indian seafarers, repatriation of workers, and human trafficking from India into Malaysia are major concerns to the two Governments.
EAM Jaishankar had paid an official visit to Malaysia in March this year, during which he had called on PM Ibrahim and also held bilateral meetings with Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan and Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Digital.
Bilateral trade reached US$20.01 billion in FY 2023-24. Malaysia has emerged as the 16th largest trading partner for India while India figures among the 10 largest trading partners for Malaysia. Malaysia is also our 3rd largest trading partner in ASEAN.
