Briefing by Official Spokesperson on visit of Malaysian Dy. Prime Minister

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March 10, 2011

Official Spokesperson : A very good evening to all of you. My colleagues, Mr. Arun Goel, Joint Secretary (South) and our High Commissioner to Malaysia Mr. Vijay Gokhale, join me for briefing you about the ongoing visit of the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Education Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who arrived in Mumbai day before yesterday and has reached New Delhi today. He is on a five day visit at the invitation of the External Affairs Minister.

He is the second highest ranking political leader in Malaysia. Let me take you briefly through his programme and also apprise you of the composition of his Delegation. DPM is accompanied by the Chief Minister of Sabah; the Minister of Works; the Minister of Human Resources who is of Indian origin; the Special Envoy on Infrastructure to India and South Asia; among senior officials.

DPM arrived in Mumbai on the 8th. Yesterday he had several important meetings including with the Chairman of the Reliance Industries Limited Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Tata Group Mr. Ratan Tata and our Chief Minister in Maharashtra.

Today, he has already met with Dr. C.P. Joshi, our Minister for Road Transport and Highways. He would be visiting and inaugurating a new Construction Industries Development Board office of Malaysia. He would also be visiting a highway infrastructure project which is being executed by Malaysian companies along with Indian companies.

Infrastructure is one sector where the Malaysian companies are doing a lot of work. They have already executed or are in the process of executing infrastructure projects of over five billion dollars in India.

DPM would be calling on the Prime Minister of India and also would have a meeting later on with our Minister of Human Resource Development. Tomorrow there will be a meeting with EAM who would also be hosting a lunch in the honour of the visiting dignitary. Later in the afternoon, he addresses foreign diplomats at a programme organized by Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation; and then emplanes for Chennai, where he has a number of engagements including participating in the Malaysian Night and Cultural Show, that is being hosted to celebrate the establishment of the Twin City Relationship between Kuala Lumpur and Chennai. That is broadly the programme of DPM .

He last visited India in the year 2000. Last year in October when Prime Minister of India paid a state visit to Malaysia he had a very good exchange of views with the former. Malaysia is a part of India’s extended neighbourhood. We also see Malaysia as an important gateway to ASEAN. India and Malaysia have traditionally enjoyed close and friendly relations. The country is home to more than two million people of Indian origin which is among the largest anywhere in the world.

Our bilateral relations were taken to a qualitatively new level in the last fifteen months after the landmark state visit of Prime Minister Najib in January 2010. Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh paid a return visit to Kuala Lumpur in October itself last year, thus signaling the intention to usher in a new era in our ties. The two Prime Ministers have also charted out the future course of our relations through a Joint Statement on the framework for a strategic partnership. Prime Minister referred to his visit to Malaysia as a turning point in our relations and also underlined that stronger ties with Malaysia is fundamental to the success of India’s Look-East Policy.

I would like to note here that both sides have worked with great alacrity to implement the initiatives taken and the targets set, during the visits of the two Prime Ministers. This has also been helped by regular high-level exchanges. To give you an idea, just in two months of this year, in February and March, we have seen the visits of four Ministers from Malaysia to India including the Minister of Health, IT, Trade and Industry, and the Minister of Works.

One of the decisions taken was to have a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement covering goods, services and investment. I am happy to say that a formal agreement was signed on the 18th of February, 2011 and both sides are expecting the agreement to come into force on 1st of July, 2011. We have no doubt that this would literally transform the relationship, the economic and trade relationship between our two countries.

To give you an example of the efficacy and impact of such an agreement, I may mention that a similar agreement was operationalised with South Korea with effect from the 1st of January, 2010. In one year, just in one year, during 2010, our trade with ROK went up 44 per cent. No wonder Prime Minister Najib remarked about CECA that it is a strategic and economic umbrella to present Malaysia and India with enormous economic opportunities to enhance investment and market access.

We have also in the last few months concluded an extradition treaty which has been ratified by Malaysia. And India-Malaysia CEO’s business forum was set up in October, 2010. Also, significantly and as committed by President Najib, permission has been received for the first Indian banking consortium to commence commercial operations in Malaysia, which is expected in the second quarter of this year. These are just a few examples to illustrate how both sides have gone about building the edifice of our relationship.

Here, economic and commercial ties have emerged as one of the mainstay of our relations. Malaysia is already one of our largest trading partners in the ASEAN region. Bilateral trade doubled between 2005 and 2008 crossing 10 billion dollars. Thereafter it did take a dip in 2009 because of the global economic woes. But we believe that in 2010 it has almost inched close to the $ 10 billion mark and, as I said, there is no looking back.

India has also become the seventh largest investor in Malaysia and there have been sizeable investments in the last three years between 2007 and 2010 including major acquisitions by Reliance, Ballarpur Industries of the Thapar Group, Mahindra, Satyam, Larsen & Toubro. During the visit of our Prime Minister, fresh investments were announced by Biocon India of the tune of 400 million dollars, and Manipal University of 200 million dollars. More than 100 Indian companies including 60 joint ventures are operational in Malaysia. By the same token Malaysia has also made sizeable investments in India which add up to more than 1.8 billion dollars, and more are on the way.

I mentioned the infrastructure sector and I would like here to underscore that the Malaysian construction companies have the largest presence in India outside Malaysia. They have already executed or executing projects worth more than $ 5 billion. Currently, 35 projects are under execution and 52 have already been undertaken. One of the prime examples is that of the teaming up between GMR group and Malaysian Airport Holding Berhad for development of airports and other facilities. They have successfully established the airports at Hyderabad and New Delhi, and are currently working on the Monorail Project in Mumbai which would be a first in the country.

To give this process a further impetus, an MoU of cooperation on technical assistance services in highway management and development was signed in 2010, which will certainly open up a slew of new opportunities for Malaysian companies.

Another promising sector is railways where IRCON has been quite active for the last 20 years in modernization and development of railway infrastructure in Malaysia. And they are currently executing a double-tracking project worth a $ 1.5 billion. But these are only some areas in which we are cooperating. The spectrum is indeed quite wide and getting wider which includes areas like education, human resource development, communications, IT, defence, security, tourism and culture.

Our cooperation in the vital area of defence and security is getting strengthened. We had concluded an agreement on defence cooperation way back in 1993. Our Raksha Mantriji had visited Malaysia in January 2008. We have also established a practice of having annual meetings of the Malaysia-India Defence Cooperation Committee which is co-chaired by the Defence Secretaries of the two countries, and the last meeting was held in New Delhi in March 2010.

Our cooperation in maritime security is getting strengthened. Indian ships regularly make port calls at Malaysia. Malaysian officers have been undergoing training programmes in India. I mentioned that a bilateral extradition treaty has also been signed.

In the area of education, we have more than 2000 Indian students studying in Malaysia, and over 3000 Malaysian students studying in India. A MOU on cooperation in higher education was signed in January last year during the visit of Prime Minister Najib, and a Memorandum on IT cooperation was signed when our Prime Minister visited Malaysia in October. India has been offering 55 training slots under the ITEC and Colombo Plan which are fully utilized.

Both sides see considerable potential for cooperation in teaching of English language and in IT education where we can share our experience and expertise with our Malaysian friends. Over 60 Indian IT companies have offices in Malaysia.

We have also signed a cultural exchange programme for the year 2010-2013 after the establishment of a full-fledged Indian Cultural Centre in Kuala Lumpur on the 10th of February, 2010.

I did mention the sizeable Indian population. It is little surprise therefore that we are well connected. 115 weekly flights already operate between the two countries and we are now discussing a revised Air Services Agreement to further increase the frequency.

Indian tourists are also heading for Malaysia in large numbers and constitute the sixth largest segment of incoming tourists in Malaysia. In 2009, 650,000 Indian tourists went to Malaysia. And in 2008, we received close to 120,000 tourists from Malaysia. We have also signed a bilateral MOU on Tourism in recognition of the considerable potential in this area.

Before I wrap up and invite your questions, let me mention that there are a number of international fora in which we closely cooperate and coordinate including the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asian Summit, NAM, Commonwealth, ASEM and so on.

We welcome the visit of the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia which we are confident, would help in not only maintaining but enhancing the broad-based engagement that we have between India and Malaysia.

Thank you. My colleagues and I would be happy to take a few questions on the visit of the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia to India.

Question: Is the Revised Air Services Agreement to be finalized during this visit?

High Commissioner: It would not be signed during the visit. It is in the process of finalization.

Question: It was asking for your response to the announcement by the Dalai Lama this morning that he would be handing power over to some sort of elected institution or individual. My question would be, what your response is to that and whether India will continue to be happy to host the Tibetan Government in Exile after the Dalai Lama steps down.

Official Spokesperson: My response is that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an honoured guest in India and he is a spiritual and religious leader.

Question: Just to carry on from there, does it mean that the Government has no problem with the Dalai Lama continuing to stay in India?

Official Spokesperson: I have already answered the question.

Question: Can you give us an update on the Somalian pirates issue?

Official Spokesperson: Yes. You would have perhaps seen the detailed press release that we have just issued. I would basically like to note here that the safety and security of Indian nationals remains a matter of high priority for the country. The nodal Indian agency, which is the Director-General of Shipping is the main contact points with the ship owners. The Ministry of External Affairs comes into the picture when the ship owners or the management are based in a foreign country. Our Missions also play a vital role in coordinating and in ascertaining information, in encouraging the ship owners to assist in the matter. As of now, we have 53 Indian sailors who are still captive. 11 Indian sailors who were on Rak Africana were released yesterday by the Somali pirates. In the preceding years, we have had 21 Indian nationals similarly released in 2008; 34 in 2009; and 56 in 2010.

Question: Just a follow up on the Dalai Lama’s status. I just want to understand if India has a position on the Dalai Lama giving up political cause. Do we have view on that? You have not talked about that.

The second question is on the sailors. Your press release also talks about the fact that the Missions are in touch with the ship owners themselves and with the Governments in which these ship owners and managements are based. So, what is the feedback? Your Release is talking about them being in touch with all those five cases. What is the feedback that you are getting on all of those cases?

Official Spokesperson: On the first question, I have already told you how we view His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is an honoured guest, he is a spiritual and religious leader.

As to your second question, yes, and that is why we have put out the details. Basically in these cases it is the ship owners who reach out to the pirates. We have given details of the five ships in which there are still 53 Indian sailors – are all foreign flag carriers. Four of them are Panamanian and one of them is Italian. So, as necessary what the Mission does is it reaches out to the owners or the companies who manage the ships and encourage them to do what is needed to get the sailors released safely and as early as possible. Obviously this is the responsibility of the carriers to ensure that their crew is safe.

Question: What is the feedback that you have got?

Official Spokesperson: About?

Question: From the nations that you are in touch with.

Official Spokesperson: Precisely that the Missions are in touch. We have brought it out in the public domain. We have, therefore, mentioned that it is this kind of coordination between the DG (Shipping), Ministry of Defence, and the External Affairs Ministry, including our Missions, that has resulted in the release of sailors, during the last few years. We have even given out the figures. Certainly as I said at the very outset, the safety, security and the wellbeing of the sailors who are Indian nationals, is of the highest priority of the Government of India and that is how we have been going about it.

Question: Sri Lankan Prime Minister has said that LTTE is trying to revive its secret camps in Tamil Nadu. Any comment?

Official Spokesperson: We have seen reports from Sri Lanka referring to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s statement in their Parliament alluding to the presence of LTTE training camps in Tamil Nadu. We categorically deny the existence of any such camps. The Government of Sri Lanka have also not taken up this issue with us. Such a reference is indeed unfortunate and we urge the Government of Sri Lanka to desist from reacting to speculative and uncorroborated reports.

Thank you.

(Concluded) New Delhi
March 10, 2011

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