External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim during a meeting, in Kuala Lumpur, in March 2024. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will visit New Delhi next week, in a visit that is expected to strengthen India-Malaysia ties in strategic, trade and defence cooperation, and discuss major developments in Bangladesh, Gaza and Iran as well.

With the Parliament session over, the visit is one of a number upcoming diplomatic outreaches. New Delhi is set to host the India-Japan 2+2 with Foreign and Defence Ministers, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will then travel to Poland and Ukraine.

Mr. Ibrahim’s visit to India from August 19-21 is his first since winning elections and taking over as Prime Minister in 2022. His visit will also attempt to smooth over some of the irritants between previous Malaysian governments and India that led to tensions in ties.

Mr. Ibrahim, seen as a moderate reformer, was in Delhi in 2019 as a member of the previous government of Mahathir Mohamad and president of the ruling party, when he had advocated stronger bilateral ties.

Mr. Mohamad had however raised many issues with India, publicly criticising the Modi government over the changes in Jammu and Kashmir and the crackdown on those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Mr. Mohamad’s government also refused to hand over Zakir Naik, the preacher wanted in India on charges of terror activities. India cancelled palm oil imports from Malaysia in retaliation.

In 2020, New Delhi’s decision to detain 2,500 foreigners from 45 countries, largely from Malaysia and Indonesia, who had come to Delhi for the “Tablighi Jamaat” conference had also roiled ties. However, with Mr. Ibrahim’s win, the two countries have essayed new ties, including earlier this year, when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Kuala Lumpur and and hailed Mr. Ibrahim’s “vision” for an ambitious bilateral agenda.

Coinciding with Mr. Ibrahim’s visit, Mr. Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will hold the India-Japan 2+2 talks with their counterparts Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara in Delhi.

The two sides, which last met for the 2+2 in 2022 will discuss India-Japan strategic ties, as well as Indo-Pacific and Quad cooperation on August 20. They are also expected to discuss the situation in Bangladesh, where India and Japan have coordinated closely on several infrastructure projects as part of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s “Future of the Indo-Pacific” strategy.

While a Quad summit in the next few months appears difficult given Mr. Kishida’s own leadership battle within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party at the end of September, and U.S. elections in early November, the 2+2 is expected to discuss the earliest possible dates for India to host the summit.

Meanwhile the government is finalising plans for Mr. Modi’s upcoming visit to Poland and Ukraine, his first since the Russian invasion in 2022, a visit that comes weeks after his visit to Moscow.

Mr. Modi is expected to travel to Warsaw from August 21-22 for bilateral talks with the Polish leadership, and Kyiv on August 23, which is the Ukrainian “Day of the National Flag”. In Kyiv, he will hold talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had sharply criticised Mr. Modi’s Moscow trip, and the visit is expected to refute the perception in Ukraine as well as in the U.S. and Europe that India is taking a partisan position on the war.

Kuala Lumpur:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday called on Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the two leaders exchanged views and discussed cooperation in the areas of trade, science and technology, education, agriculture, tourism, defence and also on regional issues including Myanmar.

S Jaishankar, who is here on a two-day official visit, met Anwar Ibrahim at the Prime Minister’s Office and the meeting lasted about an hour, the official Bernama news agency reported.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Anwar Ibrahim and S Jaishankar exchanged views and discussed cooperation in the areas of trade, science and technology, education, agriculture, tourism, defence and digital, and also on regional issues including Myanmar.

Anwar Ibrahim gave his commitment to facilitate the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) branch campus in Malaysia, it added.

The Prime Minister also expressed appreciation to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for assisting Malaysia when the country was hit by a shortage of rice and hoped for further facilitation on the import of agricultural produce from India.

“May the Malaysian-Indian relationship continue to grow and blossom for the benefit of the people of both friendly countries,” Anwar Ibrahim said.

The Prime Minister looks forward to visit India soon, the statement said.

S Jaishankar, who is in Kuala Lumpur on the third and last leg of his three-nation tour to Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, conveyed the warm greetings of Prime Minister Modi.

“Honour to call on Prime Minister @anwaribrahim of Malaysia. Conveyed the warm greetings of PM @narendramodi,” S Jaishankar said in a post on X.

Praising the Malaysian prime minister’s vision for a stronger bilateral relationship, he said, “His vision for stronger India-Malaysia ties, both in traditional and new-age areas, will help us craft a more ambitious agenda for the relationship.” “Benefitted from his guidance and insights on regional developments,” he added.

Earlier, S Jaishankar met his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad bin Haji Hasan.

The two foreign ministers held a “productive and frank discussion, including exchanging views on the multifaceted dimensions of Malaysia-India bilateral affairs as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest,” the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in an official statement.

The meeting was also attended by Agriculture and Food Security Minister Mohamad Sabu and Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tong.

Malaysia and India share a long-standing and substantive relationship bound by robust economic partnerships and close people-to-people ties.

In 2023, India was Malaysia’s 12th largest global trading partner, with total trade amounting to RM 77.76 billion (USD 16.53 billion), the statement said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)