Besides holding talks with PM Modi, Ibrahim will deliver an address at the Indian Council of World Affairs on August 20 on the role of the Global South.
India and Malaysia are expected to sign several agreements, including a key pact on the recruitment of Indian workers, when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visits New Delhi next week, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
This will be Ibrahim’s first visit to India since he became prime minister in late 2022, though he had earlier visited New Delhi in January 2019 and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will also be the first visit by a Malaysian premier since 2018.
Ibrahim is expected to arrive in New Delhi on August 19, though both sides are yet to formally announce the visit. The two sides are expected to sign several agreements and renew existing ones to bolster cooperation in a range of areas, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.
Besides holding talks with Modi and meeting India’s top leadership, Ibrahim will deliver an address at the Indian Council of World Affairs on August 20 on the role of the Global South, the people said.
One of the most important agreements set to be inked is a memorandum of understanding on recruitment, employment and repatriation of workers, the people said. Both sides have negotiated the labour pact for the past few years and it has assumed importance following complaints about violation of rights of Indian workers in Malaysia. There are about 1,85,000 Indian nationals in Malaysia, including skilled and unskilled workers.
According to the website of the Indian high commission in Malaysia, illegal immigration, exploitation at workplaces and human trafficking from India to Malaysia are “major concerns” to the two governments. In recent years, Malaysian authorities have taken steps to open up more sectors to Indian workers.
The visit will also be an opportunity for the two sides to reset ties that were hit by former premier Mahathir Mohamad’s criticism of the Indian government’s scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2020. At the time, India rejected Mahathir’s remarks and the government tweaked rules to effectively bar imports of refined palm oil from Malaysia, the world’s second-largest exporter.
The Indian side was also irked by the presence of controversial preacher Zakir Naik in Malaysia; he was granted permanent residency. India has sought the extradition of Naik, who faces charges of money laundering and inciting terrorism.
The two sides are also expected to discuss ways to bolster trade and investment, including acceptance of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system and RuPay payment service and trade settlement in domestic currencies, the people said.
Malaysia is India’s 13th largest trade partner and India is among Malaysia’s 10 biggest trade partners. The two-way trade was worth almost $20 billion in 2022-23. Malaysia is the 26th largest investor in India, and India is also the country where Malaysian construction companies have their largest presence. These companies have been involved in the construction of roads, highways and railways, and upgrades of airports and ports.
Modi visited Malaysia in 2015 and made a brief stopover in Kuala Lumpur in May 2018. There were several high-level visits between the two sides leading up to Ibrahim’s trip. Malaysia’s former foreign minister Zambry Abdul Kadir visited India in November 2023 and external affairs minister S Jaishankar travelled to Kuala Lumpur in March.