India-Malaysia Relations, Economy, Defence, Tourism and Diaspora/Cultural Relations
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India-Malaysia Relations
- 1957: Established diplomatic relations with the Federation of Malaya
- India PM visited Malaysia in October 2010.
- The text of CECA has been agreed upon. Will be implemented for July 1,2011.
- Collaboration in defence sector and infrastructure development.
- To step up cabinet level exchanges in numerous areas
- India-Malaysia would liberalize their respective investment regimes to facilitate greater foreign direct investment into each other՚s territory.
- MoU on cooperation in the traditional systems of medicine makes India the second country with which Malaysia has inked such a pact.
- MoU on Cooperation in the field of Tourism
- MoU on cooperation in the field of IT & Services
- Cultural Exchange Programme Agreement between CSIR and UNIK of Malaysia
- To set up a joint working group on Counterterrorism
Economy
- Economic and Commercial relations are emerging as the mainstay of the bilateral relationship
- Malaysia is the second largest trading partner for India within ASEAN
- India is the largest trading partner for Malaysia from among the countries of the South Asia, excluding China
- CECA (likely to be asked)
- Came into force on July 1,2011
- India Malaysia CEOs forum launched
- Bilateral trade
- 2010: USD 8.94 bn
- India՚s exports: USD 2.47 bn
- India՚s imports: USD 6.47 bn
- Expected to cross USD 10 bn in 2011 due to the implementation of CECA
- 21st largest investor in India
- Maxis Comm in Aircel, Axiata in IDEA, Khazanah in IDFC
- Malaysian construction companies՚ largest presence outside Malaysia is in India
- They have completed 52 construction projects worth USD 2.34 bn in India
- Under partnership with Malaysian Airports, GMR completed airport in Hyderabad and Delhi
- India is the 7th largest investor in Malaysia
- Reliance, IRCON
Defence
- 1993: MoU on defence cooperation
- Malaysia-Indian Defence Cooperation meetings (MIDCOM) held regularly
Tourism
India is the sixth largest source country for inbound tourism to Malaysia while Malaysia is the tenth largest for India
Diaspora/Cultural Relations
- Malaysian students studying in India and vice versa
- About 150,000 legally recruited Indian workers in Malaysia in both the skilled and semi-skilled category
- Malaysia has one of the largest communities of PIOs in the world, numbering close to 2 million (7.1% of Malaysian population)
- Overwhelmingly Tamil speaking
- Malaysian Indian Congress is the dominant political organisation of the PIOs
- PIOs from Malaysia have been sending the largest contingents to the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas
- Some important Malaysian Indians
- Tony Fernandes: CEO of Air Asia
- Ash Nair: Musician
- Jaclyn Victor: Singer and actress
Problems
- Unfair treatment of non-Muslims and non-Malays
- Islam is the state religion. About 60% of the people are Muslims
- Lately, Malaysian government՚s stance with regard to constraining religious assertion has been against non-Muslims
- Economic condition of many Indians is bad
- They are not provided the support that is given to the Muslims and Malays by the government
Brunei
See the MEA brief
Myanmar
- Is the land bridge for India to connect with ASEAN countries
- Discussed in detail in another note.