PUTRAJAYA: India and Malaysia are playing important roles in the discernible shift in economic power towards Asia, India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said yesterday.
COLLABORATION: Najib (third left) and Manmohan (centre) witness the exchange of documents between Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and Manipal Education chairman and Medical Group and Chancellor, Manipal Universiti, India, Dr Ramdas Pai (right) at the Malaysia-India CEO Forum in Putrajaya.— Bernama photo
Manmohan said there was a time when few ever dreamt that India, China or other nations would catch up with the industrialised world.
“Today, few would doubt that a fundamental change in the global economy is under way. Dynamic emerging countries are growing rapidly despite a period of slow growth in the industrialised world.
“Hence, there are many possibilities of synergy between India and Malaysia in the years ahead,” he said at the Khazanah Global Lecture yesterday.
Also present were Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, key cabinet ministers and captains of industries.
This is Manmohan’s first visit to Malaysia and is to reciprocate Najib’s visit to India in January.
He said India and Malaysia faced similar threats to prosperity.
“We have a shared stake in eliminating the threats of extremism and terrorism, in maritime security in our region and the security of the sea lane,” he said.
Malaysia and India, he said, could undertake a common cause to promote regional peace, security and stability.
“There are many things that bring us together and that can continue to keep us together. Indeed, there is no issue that divides us at present,” he said.
Manmohan said a nation’s young population was an asset only if it was educated, skilled and productively employed.
“At a time when the industrialised world is aging rapidly, India has the advantage of a young population.
“The dependency burden in India is expected to keep falling for another 20 years,” he said.
It is expected that in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared with 37 for China and 48 for Japan, he said.
“If this were to happen, our objective of realising India’s potential growth at 10 per cent or more per annum for a substantial period of time can become a reality,” he said.
Seven memorandums of understanding were also exchanged at the function.
Among them were: MK Land Holdings Bhd and Embassy Group of India to undertake a housing project in Bangalore; Quantum Sigma Sdn Bhd and ES Electronics (India) Pvt Ltd to set up a manufacturing plant to produce solar panel; Malaysia Airlines and Tata Consultancy Services Sdn Bhd. — Bernama
Budayatama Corp Sdn Bhd and PEN Food Pvt Ltd; TH-NSTC Sdn Bhd, Ascentus Holding Sdn Bhd and Davanam Construction Pvt Ltd; University Tenaga Nasional Sdn Bhd and The Energy and Resources Institute; and, IEM Training Centre Sdn Bhd and Engineering Staff College of India. — Bernama