New Delhi, 20 Aug: India and Malaysia on Tuesday elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim held extensive talks focusing on expanding cooperation in several sectors, including trade, investment and defence.
\nA pact on promoting recruitment of Indian workers in Malaysia and protection of their interests was one of the at least eight agreements inked between the two sides.
\nThe pact on recruitment of Indian workers assumes significance as illegal immigration and human trafficking from India to Malaysia are among major concerns of the two governments.
\nIbrahim began his three-day visit to India on Monday night in his first trip to the country as the prime minister.
\n\u201cToday, we have decided that our partnership will be elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,\u201d Modi said in his media statement.
\nThe prime minister said the agreement on employment of workers will promote the recruitment of Indians as well as the protection of their interests.
\nHighlighting the importance of India-Malaysia economic engagement, Modi said bilateral trade is being done in Rupees and Malaysian currency Ringgit.
\n\u201cWe believe that there is still a lot of potential in economic cooperation. Bilateral trade and investment should be expanded,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe should increase mutual cooperation in new technological areas, such as semiconductor, Fintech, defence industry, artificial intelligence and quantum. We have emphasised on accelerating the review of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement between India and Malaysia,\u201d he said.
\nThe prime minister said work will also be done to connect India\u2019s digital payment system UPI with Malaysia\u2019s PayNet.
\n\u201cWe are also unanimous in the fight against terrorism and extremism,\u201d he said.
\nModi also described Malaysia as an \u201cimportant partner\u201d of India in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and Indo-Pacific region.
\n\u201cIndia gives priority to ASEAN centrality. We agree that the review of the FTA (free trade agreement) between India and ASEAN should be completed in a timely manner,\u201d he said.
\nIn an apparent reference to the situation in South China Sea that has been witnessing growing Chinese military muscle-flexing, Modi said, \u201cWe are committed to freedom of navigation and over flight in accordance with international laws. And, we support the peaceful resolution of all disputes.\u201d The two sides also deliberated upon new possibilities of cooperation in the defence sector as well.
\nBoth sides also decided to establish a digital council for cooperation in digital technology, and to form a start-up alliance.
\nIn his remarks, Ibrahim said all issues, sensitive or likewise, were discussed in reflection of the true meaning of friendship between the two countries.
\n\u201cIndia is a great nation with a great history and a great culture and civilisation. It is in many ways multi-cultural and multi-religious,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cTherefore, we have a lot of commonalities which extend beyond trade and investment,\u201d he added.
\nIn the Modi-Ibrahim talks, it was decided to set up an Ayurveda chair in Malaysia\u2019s University Tunku Abdul Rahman.
\nApart from this, a decision has also been taken to establish a Tiruvalluvar Chair in the University of Malaya. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi, 20 Aug: India and Malaysia on Tuesday elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim held extensive talks focusing on expanding cooperation in several sectors, including trade, investment and defence. A pact on promoting recruitment of Indian workers in Malaysia and protection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-246808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}