NEW DELHI: India’s Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan will interact with the Indian community and diaspora during his two-day visit to Malaysia this week.
The minister will take part in the inauguration of the Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Day-Malaysia and launch the PIO International Festival being held from June 2 to 4, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Monday.
“He will address the Indian community and diaspora at the ‘Pravasiya Bharatiya Utsav’ (Overseas Indian Festival). With 2.75 million PIOs, Malaysia is home to the second largest PIO population in the world,“ the ministry said.
The Indian government issues PIO cards to citizens of other countries who have Indian ancestry or are married to Indian nationals.
The United States has 3.18 million such persons of Indian heritage, while Myanmar, South Africa and Sri Lanka also have significant PIO communities.
Malaysia is also home to more than 225,000 non-resident Indians (NRIs).
Muraleedharan will have a bilateral meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin and meet Minister of Human Resources V. Sivakumar during the Malaysia visit, the Indian ministry said.
He will deliver a key-note address at a conference titled “India-ASEAN Dynamics in the Emerging Indo-Pacific Order: Pathways to Cooperation beyond the Third Decade”, organised by the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with Centre for ASEAN Regionalism University Malaya (CARUM) and Asia Europe Institute (AEI).
The Indian minister will arrive in Malaysia on June 1 after his May 30-31 visit to Brunei Darussalam. -Bernama
