Bang Galore
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Sri Najib Tun Razak
When President Barack Obama declared his backing for a permanent UN Security Council seat for India, applause broke out not just in the Indian Parliament but across the country and the Asian world. The culmination of a hugely successful visit, it was a clear recognition by the United States of the strength of India's position on the global stage - but it was also a sign that the Indian government's 'Look East' policy, with its unapologetic shift away from the West in favour of enhancing its regional ties, is reaping rich rewards.
India's commitment to a renewed and reinvigorated regionalism is one we in Malaysia share, and one that I am working closely with your government to foster. I had the honour of welcoming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Malaysia just last month - our second meeting this year after my visit to India in January - and I am proud of the work we are doing together as strong and democratic Asian nations to promote development across our region and to tackle the big issues of our day: combating terrorism, improving our infrastructure and ensuring the benefits of prosperity reach all our people, not just some of them.
Our economic cooperation is already strong, with trade between Malaysia and India growing at an average rate of 23 per cent over the last five years and now topping $10 billion. But I believe, and I know Singh believes too, that we have the capacity to go far beyond that - which is why we have recently completed negotiations on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement that will transform our bilateral engagement when it comes into force next year.
A wide-ranging and far-reaching partnership encompassing trade, investment, higher education and the flow of talent between our countries, the agreement paves the way for the dynamic knowledge economies that we are building to ensure our future growth, and sets an ambitious trade target of $15 billion by 2015. It is a partnership that fosters not only government-to-government relations but people-to-people relations as well - so, for example, a new India-Malaysia CEO forum will bring together business chiefs to focus on boosting specific industries and sectors.
In the financial sector, the Securities Commission and the Securities and Exchange Board of India have signed an agreement that will enable greater cross-border market activities, and Bursa Malaysia is working closely with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) to help Indian businesses seize the opportunities on offer in the Malaysian capital market. Malaysia also stands ready to act as India's gateway into the Asean trade bloc - 10 nations, 600 million people and a market growth rate of 6 per cent this year.
So I sincerely hope India's entrepreneurs will increasingly come to view Malaysia as a strategic commercial destination. But let me be clear - the alliance between our two countries extends well beyond commerce and trade. Whilst a deeper, more comprehensive economic cooperation forms the backbone of our new partnership, what we are seeing is in fact a much wider convergence, not only of our economic interests, but of our political and cultural ones as well.
Like India, Malaysia is of course a multicultural, multi-ethnic country - a democracy that respects the fundamental human rights of all its citizens and that draws strength from its diversity. In that sense it seems only natural that, united by our common values, our geographical proximity and our long-standing ties, Singh and I have in recent months signed agreements on a huge range of issues - from healthcare to higher education, railways to road transport and, of course, very significantly, in the area of security and defence, where we are stepping up our combined anti-terrorism efforts by increasing information sharing through a new joint working group. The Indian Air Force has trained a number of Malaysian fighter pilots as part of a new and highly successful programme, and I have also invited the Indian defence industry to play an active part in the Malaysian defence and security park - just two more examples of the ways we are working together to promote security and stability across the Asian world.
Each of these steps takes us further down the pathway towards comprehensive cooperation - and each of our countries has a strong stake in the progress and prosperity of the other. I have no doubt that over the next 10 years, as our relationship deepens to a long-term strategic partnership, the ties between us will get stronger still - building mutual trust and understanding between our governments and our peoples and promoting the interests of our nations alongside the wider interests of our region.
As Obama has said, now is the time for India "not only to look East but to engage East", expanding its economic and strategic integration with Asia at the same time as cementing its position on the global stage. It is an exciting prospect, for the Malaysian people as much as for the people of India, and I look forward to an enriched dialogue between our countries as we journey together towards a more prosperous, secure and fair future - a future in which the fruits of our cooperation will be enjoyed by all.
The writer is the prime minister of Malaysia.
Look East To The Future - The Times of India
When President Barack Obama declared his backing for a permanent UN Security Council seat for India, applause broke out not just in the Indian Parliament but across the country and the Asian world. The culmination of a hugely successful visit, it was a clear recognition by the United States of the strength of India's position on the global stage - but it was also a sign that the Indian government's 'Look East' policy, with its unapologetic shift away from the West in favour of enhancing its regional ties, is reaping rich rewards.
India's commitment to a renewed and reinvigorated regionalism is one we in Malaysia share, and one that I am working closely with your government to foster. I had the honour of welcoming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Malaysia just last month - our second meeting this year after my visit to India in January - and I am proud of the work we are doing together as strong and democratic Asian nations to promote development across our region and to tackle the big issues of our day: combating terrorism, improving our infrastructure and ensuring the benefits of prosperity reach all our people, not just some of them.
Our economic cooperation is already strong, with trade between Malaysia and India growing at an average rate of 23 per cent over the last five years and now topping $10 billion. But I believe, and I know Singh believes too, that we have the capacity to go far beyond that - which is why we have recently completed negotiations on a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement that will transform our bilateral engagement when it comes into force next year.
A wide-ranging and far-reaching partnership encompassing trade, investment, higher education and the flow of talent between our countries, the agreement paves the way for the dynamic knowledge economies that we are building to ensure our future growth, and sets an ambitious trade target of $15 billion by 2015. It is a partnership that fosters not only government-to-government relations but people-to-people relations as well - so, for example, a new India-Malaysia CEO forum will bring together business chiefs to focus on boosting specific industries and sectors.
In the financial sector, the Securities Commission and the Securities and Exchange Board of India have signed an agreement that will enable greater cross-border market activities, and Bursa Malaysia is working closely with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) to help Indian businesses seize the opportunities on offer in the Malaysian capital market. Malaysia also stands ready to act as India's gateway into the Asean trade bloc - 10 nations, 600 million people and a market growth rate of 6 per cent this year.
So I sincerely hope India's entrepreneurs will increasingly come to view Malaysia as a strategic commercial destination. But let me be clear - the alliance between our two countries extends well beyond commerce and trade. Whilst a deeper, more comprehensive economic cooperation forms the backbone of our new partnership, what we are seeing is in fact a much wider convergence, not only of our economic interests, but of our political and cultural ones as well.
Like India, Malaysia is of course a multicultural, multi-ethnic country - a democracy that respects the fundamental human rights of all its citizens and that draws strength from its diversity. In that sense it seems only natural that, united by our common values, our geographical proximity and our long-standing ties, Singh and I have in recent months signed agreements on a huge range of issues - from healthcare to higher education, railways to road transport and, of course, very significantly, in the area of security and defence, where we are stepping up our combined anti-terrorism efforts by increasing information sharing through a new joint working group. The Indian Air Force has trained a number of Malaysian fighter pilots as part of a new and highly successful programme, and I have also invited the Indian defence industry to play an active part in the Malaysian defence and security park - just two more examples of the ways we are working together to promote security and stability across the Asian world.
Each of these steps takes us further down the pathway towards comprehensive cooperation - and each of our countries has a strong stake in the progress and prosperity of the other. I have no doubt that over the next 10 years, as our relationship deepens to a long-term strategic partnership, the ties between us will get stronger still - building mutual trust and understanding between our governments and our peoples and promoting the interests of our nations alongside the wider interests of our region.
As Obama has said, now is the time for India "not only to look East but to engage East", expanding its economic and strategic integration with Asia at the same time as cementing its position on the global stage. It is an exciting prospect, for the Malaysian people as much as for the people of India, and I look forward to an enriched dialogue between our countries as we journey together towards a more prosperous, secure and fair future - a future in which the fruits of our cooperation will be enjoyed by all.
The writer is the prime minister of Malaysia.
Look East To The Future - The Times of India
