EAM Jaishankar meets Malaysian counterpart, discusses bilateral ties

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a "productive and frank" discussion with his Malaysian counterpart Mohamad bin Haji Hasan here on Wednesday on enhancing collaboration on political, economic, defence and people-to-people linkages between the two countries and also discussed regional and international issues.

Jaishankar is in Kuala Lumpur on the third and last leg of his three-nation tour to Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia.

He met the Malaysian Foreign Minister Hasan here and 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.

"Delighted to meet FM @tokmatn9 to begin my visit to Malaysia," Jaishankar said in a post on X.

"Exchanged views on enhancing collaboration in political, economic, defence, digital, startups, consular and p2p (people-to-people) linkages. Shared perspectives on the region, Indo-Pacific, West Asia and Ukraine," he said.

Jaishankar said that he looks forward to further strengthening our engagements as the two countries near the completion of a decade of Enhanced Strategic Partnership.

The ministers also discussed the exchange of high-level visits and the convening of the 7th Joint Commission Meeting of Malaysia and India on a mutually agreeable date.

This was the first meeting between Jaishankar and Hasan since the latter took office in December 2023, the statement said.

Jaishankar will call on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim later in the day and is scheduled to meet Minister of Digital Gobind Singh Deo, the foreign ministry said.

His visit aims to strengthen cooperation between India and Malaysia and enhance understanding of shared challenges and opportunities, it said.

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), according to the statement.