Defense Cooperation Tops Malaysian PM Agenda During Six-Day India Visit

India and Malaysia are expected to focus their cooperation in defense and infrastructure sectors during discussions between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Malaysian PM is in India on a six-day visit and the two countries are likely to ink some important agreements in the field of defense.

"We are looking to take forward what was discussed during Prime Minister's visit to Malaysia in 2015. So we are looking at a couple of areas that were identified at that time," Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Jaideep Mazumdar told the media.

Defense and security relations between India and Malaysia have been one of the important pillars of bilateral ties which has been further strengthened after India trained Malaysian fighter pilots on SU-30 as Malaysia also has Russian Sukhoi aircraft. Earlier in 2016, India and Malaysia carried out their first-ever Joint Naval Exercise.

Counter-terrorism especially the increasing activities of Daesh in the region will be on the agenda of discussion between the two prime ministers.

"Certainly, we have a very robust cooperation between India and Malaysia in the area of counter-terrorism. A very real-time exchange of information happens between agencies on both sides. Certainly, world international terrorism and terrorism in our region will be an important subject in the bilateral discussions between the two sides," Mazumdar said.

The Malaysian Prime Minister is accompanied by a large business delegation consisting of many of the top companies and businessmen in Malaysia. Therefore, India-Malaysia trade will also be on the table.

During his visit, the Malaysian Prime Minister will also travel to Jaipur, capital of the state of Rajasthan to meet the state chief minister. Malaysia has bid for several contracts in Rajasthan, amounting to US $ 1.4 billion.