Malaysia has supported India's demand for permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

New Delhi: Malaysia has supported India's demand for permanent membership in the UN Security Council. The Minister of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday said that defense and security are important areas of relations between the two countries. Prime Minister Modi and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had a deep discussion on many issues. These include commerce and military alliances, cultural connections, as well as collaboration in the growing domains of digital solutions and sustainable energy sources.

Addressing a press conference, MEA Secretary East, Jaideep Mazumdar said Malaysia has announced its support for India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.

He added, “Fintech start-ups, cross border payment systems and UPI-based systems are new drivers of our engagement with Malaysia and we look forward to it.”

“There have been more than 15 bilateral meetings at the Ministerial or Deputy Ministerial level and this is reflected in the wide range of engagements we have between India and Malaysia today and the charts we have charted for the relationship moving forward. Today, they held extensive discussions on emerging areas such as trade and commerce, defense and security, cultural exchange, people-to-people relations, digital technology, semiconductors, renewable energy and sustainable development. We have a very close relationship with Malaysia,” he said.

In a post on X, Malaysian spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “India-Malaysia is planning a new future with a comprehensive strategic partnership. Prime Minister @narendramodi and Malaysian PM @anwaribrahim held extensive discussions to deepen India-Malaysia multifaceted ties. The leaders agreed to enhance India-Malaysia relations into a comprehensive strategic partnership. Various areas of bilateral cooperation including trade and investment, defence, new and emerging technologies, cultural exchange and people-to-people relations were discussed. The leaders also exchanged views on regional and global issues, including cooperation in ASEAN and the Global South.

India/status/1825815438632145037″ rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>https://x.com/MEAIndia/status/1825815438632145037

Mazumdar added that the Indian diaspora is the largest in the world.

“The Indian diaspora is the third largest in the world, numbering around 2.9 million, and is the second largest PIO community, numbering around 2.75 billion. It is home to many skilled and unskilled workers and professionals from India who participate in the Malaysian economy and contribute to its growth and development,” he said.

Mazumdar said that both the leaders have signed many important agreements.

“Labor recruitment, employment and repatriation are key areas today. This is a MoU because it paves the way for the welfare of Indian workers, ensuring their welfare and decent working conditions as well as their return home,” he said.

Mazumdar said that both sides are working on this aspect.

“And this is something that both sides have been working on for some time. And this will not only benefit the welfare of Indian workers, but also open up the entire employment sector in Malaysia which is open to foreign workers for Indian workers,” he said.

Mazumdar said MoUs were signed in the areas of public administration, digital technology, cultural cooperation and tourism promotion.

“Another MoU that was signed was in the area of ​​public administration and governance reforms. A third on digital technology, one on cultural cooperation, an agreement to promote tourism,” he said.

He said that India-Malaysia tourist traffic is increasing.

“India-Malaysia tourist traffic is booming. We expect to touch 1 million Indian tourists in Malaysia this year. And the number of Malaysian tourists in India is also increasing rapidly. We have nearly 200,000 Malaysian tourists visiting India. There are 220 weekly flights between India and Malaysia and we are keen to increase this number. We have announced free e-visa for Malaysian tourists visiting India from July 1 and Malaysia also has a visa-free regime for Indians for tourism and business purposes since the end of last year. So on all these accounts we can expect a boom in tourism traffic as well as business travel between the two countries, which will also help our aviation sectors,” he said.

He further said that MoUs have been signed in the fields of Ayurveda, Fintech and sports.

“Another area of ​​cooperation that we have identified and signed MoUs is Ayurveda and traditional systems of medicine. There is an agreement between IFSCA and Labuan Financial Services on fintech and another MoU for the promotion of sports and youth affairs,” he said.

He added that another MoU was signed between BEML and SMH Rails for supply of rolling stock for Indian Railways.

“There is a high-powered forum of CEOs from both sides which met yesterday and submitted a report to both the Prime Ministers. This is a very ambitious goal in various areas of industry and investment between the two business entities. This was coordinated by CII from our site. Many other MoUs and agreements were also signed during this visit. One between BEML and SMH Rail for the supply of rolling stock for Indian Railways, one between Investment India and the Malaysian Indian Business Council and one between Nascom and its counterpart PCom to bring the two chambers of the IT industry closer together. Indian IT companies also have a large presence in Malaysia,” he said.

He said some important announcements were made during the visit to support Malaysia for food security.

“We have announced to supply another 200,000 MT of non-basmati rice to Malaysia. A Chair of Ayurveda will be established at Tunku Abdul Rahman University in Malaysia and a Chair in Thiruvalluvar at University of Malaya. A Digital Council is being set up to enhance digital connectivity between India and Malaysia. Start-up Bridge is established to bring our start-up ecosystem together. India is offering 100 I-Tech seats in Artificial Intelligence, Cyber ​​Security and Machine Learning for Malaysian students,” Mazumdar said.

The Speaker's address revealed that the two countries have finally agreed on a visionary, ambitious blueprint for their bilateral relations. Trade relations between the two nations have grown impressively, with the total trade value climbing over USD 20 billion. In the ASEAN region, Malaysia stands as the third largest trading partner. Both Prime Ministers are focused on appointing a dedicated team to implement the broad partnership strategies identified during their visit. A progress report is expected in three months, which suggests immediate initiation of these activities from today.