Indore (Madhya Pradesh): India and Malaysia, on January 8, exchanged an MoU on the recruitment of skilled and certified workers from India to Malaysia in the presence of EAM Dr S Jaishankar and Sivakumar Naidu, the visiting Malaysian HRD Minister at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, on the sidelines of the PBD Convention.
Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu is of Tamil origin and is the Malaysian Minister for Human Resource Development Minister. He is attending the ongoing Bharatiya Pravasi Divas convention here.
In his address on Sunday, he left the gathering impressed with his understanding of subjects such as ‘human resources’ and the India-Malaysian relationship.
He said both countries are analysing at the appropriate diplomatic and administrative levels on “various issues related to the migration of human capital between two countries”. Naidu further said, “My presence today at this important event is to register Malaysia’s commitment that our bilateral relations will continue to prosper”.
Sivakumar Naidu was also the Speaker of the assembly of the province of Perak between 2008 and 2009.
He is the first ethnic Indian to become the Speaker of any Malaysian legislature, and thus, his political importance in his country is well understood.
Economic and commercial relations are emerging as the mainstay of the bilateral relationship between India and Malaysia. Analysts say Malaysia is the third-largest trading partner for India within ASEAN, and India is also a very large trading partner for Malaysia.
In fact, the bilateral ties have been boosted under the Modi Government.
Following the visit by then Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2017, both India and Malaysia agreed to expand cooperation in new areas such as infrastructure development and the building of smart cities.
From the Malaysian side also, things are seeing improvements. In 2020, following comments from Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad against the revocation of Kashmir’s special status and the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), there were some problems.
India also imposed restrictions on Malaysian palm oil imports.
However, things generally improved between the two countries when Muhyiddin Yassin served as the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia from March 2020 to August 2021.
Malaysia had also inked a record deal with India to import 1,00,000 tonnes of rice, and gradually, the Indian government lifted any sort of trade bans placed on the imports of Malaysian palm oil. This increased the import volume to an all-time high average of 500,000 tonnes per month.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar was also present at the event. Naidu also mentioned that the year 2023 marks the 66th anniversary of establishing the bilateral relationship between India and Malaysia.
In his address to the Youth Bharati Pravasi Divas Convention, Information and Broadcasting and Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur said that the 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas Convention is another opportunity to build bonds of friendship, mentorship, and camaraderie that are forged when Indian youth directly interact with and learn from Indian diaspora youth. This will pave the way for a shared future.
Invoking a quote from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Thakur said, “PM Modi once remarked that when it comes to our diaspora, be it non-resident Indians or Persons of Indian Origin, we don’t look at the colour of the passport but only the blood relation. Even if you go to any corner of the country, this blood relation unites us.”
He hailed the contributions of the Indian youth and said, “Over 80,000 startups have been created in India. As the world struggled with Covid-19, India’s youth took 50 of their startups to the unicorn level. India has emerged as the third largest attractive investment destination”.
One Dubai-based NRI, Umashankari, said, “Things are much better than what we have heard about Madhya Pradesh from outside. And I must say, Indore is just wonderful and its truly India’s cleanest city”.
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