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Malaysia-India Trade Relations Healthy, Says Indian Envoy

[ 19-08-2015 ]
Malaysia-India Trade Relations Healthy, Says Indian Envoy
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- India has very healthy trade and investment relations with Malaysia which will not be affected by the ringgit's depreciation, India's High Commissioner to Malaysia T.S. Tirumurti says.

"No, its going to be better and better because of the investment climate in India.

"So, I think it is not as much dependent on the depreciation (of the ringgit), as the fact is that Malaysian companies have strength, which India wants," he said when asked whether the ringgit's steep depreciation would affect trade with India.

Speaking to Bernama at a reception to mark India's 69th Independence Day last night, the envoy pointed out that the new government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took office last year, was keen to attract investments.

"As such we will make sure that Malaysian investors are attracted to India and that is really our goal," he said, adding that Malaysia has excellent strengths like in infrastructure, which is important for India's development.

"We have nearly US$6 billion worth of Malaysian investments in India and Malaysian companies have also done nearly another US$4 billion to US$5 billion worth of projects so we have a lot of very healthy investments," he added.

Meanwhile, for the 47th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting to be held here on Aug 22-25, India will be represented by its Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will meet her Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed to discuss ASEAN-India relations, he said.

Asked about the 13th ASEAN-India Summit scheduled for November, Tirumurti said that Modi was looking forward to the visit and "very keen to come and meet your Prime Mnister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak)."

Commenting on the inaugural Festival of India held in Malaysia from March until June, he said that the 100-day event was successful in not only introducing Indian cuisine, but also enhancing people-to-people contact and promoting other forms of cultural expression like dances from the various regions of India.

He said he looks forward to organising a similar event in the future in order to engage more with Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA
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