India and Malaysia have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral cooperation in public administration and governance reforms, with a focus on capacity building, digital governance and exchange of best practices.
The commitment was made at the 2nd India-Malaysia Joint Working Group (JWG) Meeting on “Cooperation in the Field of Public Administration and Governance Reforms”, held on August 18.
The meeting was co-chaired by Puneet Yadav, Additional Secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), and Datuk Dr Mohd Bakhari bin Ismail, Deputy Director General of Public Service (Development), Malaysia. Senior officials from DARPG, the Ministry of External Affairs and the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) participated from the Indian side.
Welcoming the Malaysian delegation, Yadav highlighted the long-standing relationship between the two countries, underpinned by people-to-people ties, shared values and mutual interests. He noted that bilateral ties were elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in August 2024 and received further momentum from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Malaysia in February 2026.
The JWG reviewed progress made since its first meeting on November 13, 2024. The minutes of the inaugural meeting were confirmed and adopted, while Points of Contact were designated by both sides to facilitate coordination and implementation of agreed initiatives.
The two sides also reviewed ongoing capacity-building cooperation under India’s Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. Malaysia gave positive feedback on the academic modules, institutional and field visits, programme coordination and arrangements for participants.
The proposed capacity-building programmes for the 2026 and 2027 cohorts were also discussed, with Malaysia welcoming India’s proposal to explore specialised programmes for senior Malaysian officials.
The meeting featured an exchange of experiences on public-sector modernisation and governance reforms. Malaysia outlined its approach to public-sector transformation based on People, Process and Technology, with innovation identified as a key enabler.
Discussions covered digital government, artificial intelligence, cloud services, shared digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, blockchain, data-driven decision-making and connected government. Both sides emphasised the importance of using technology to deliver simpler, faster and more citizen-centric public services.
India shared its experience with the Centralised Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), described as a 24×7 digital platform for citizen grievance redressal.
The Indian side also highlighted “Samadhan Didi”, an AI-enabled voice chatbot launched on May 30, 2026, to make CPGRAMS more accessible and user-friendly. The conversational AI-based platform provides quick and simplified responses to citizens and supports a more responsive and citizen-centric grievance redressal system.
Malaysia also presented the Action Plan for the Malaysia-India Governance Partnership: 2027-2029 Strategic Roadmap. The roadmap is aimed at establishing a governance and implementation framework and creating a three-year plan for cooperation under the existing memorandum of understanding.
Both sides appreciated the support extended by DARPG, NCGG and the High Commission of India and agreed to identify concrete, practical and outcome-oriented areas for cooperation.
The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to deepen institutional engagement, knowledge sharing and capacity building to strengthen public institutions, improve public service delivery and enhance citizen experience.
