Share :

Download PDF :

The Straits Times (01 June 2018)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya yesterday during a stopover in Kuala Lumpur. He arrived at Perdana Putra, the Prime Minister's Office, at 11.35am, and was greeted upon arrival by Tun Dr Mahathir. Mr Modi made the brief stop-over to personally extend his congratulations to Dr Mahathir on Pakatan Harapan's (PH) victory in the 14th General Election and Dr Mahathir's appointment as Prime Minister.

This is the first meeting between the two leaders. Mr Modi last visited Malaysia on Nov 23, 2015. The Indian Prime Minister also met Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and her husband Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto leader of PH, at the VVIP complex of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. After the meeting that lasted about 30 minutes, they posed for photographs with several staff members from the Indian High Commission in Malaysia.

Malaysia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday ahead of the visit that the meeting between the leaders of the two countries underlined the fundamental strength of the millennia-old relations between Malaysia and India. It said the visit also demonstrated the strong commitment of the two countries to further strengthen their strategic partnership. Malaysia and India have ties through cultural and historical linkages, as well as in various areas, particularly infrastructure development, education, tourism and defence. India is Malaysia's largest trading partner in South Asia, with total trade amounting to RM61.43 billion (S$20.6 billion) last year. Mr Modi began a three-day official visit to Singapore yesterday.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/modi-meets-mahathir-during-stopover-in-kl