Malaysia's close relationship with India was apparent as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his counterpart Narendra Modi embraced each other at the latter's official residence Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
The two leaders were seen walking into the main hall holding hands, with Anwar later describing Modi as a good friend in "good and bad times" and calling him "abang" during a joint press conference, showing that what they have is not your usual friendship.
It was apparent that the Malaysia-India strained relationship during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's administration, is now put back on track, with bilateral cooperation inked during Anwar's three-day official visit which started on Monday.
Modi said it was "impossible" for the India-Malaysia ties to be affected as 2.9 million of Malaysia's population were of Indian descent, while there were 160,000 Indian citizens in Malaysia.
He said India and Malaysia will enhance collaborations in semiconductors, financial technology (fintech) and defence, as the foundation for rebuilding the relationship.
The relations between the two nations deteriorated following Dr Mahathir's statement against New Delhi, which had revoked the autonomy of the Muslim-majority region Kashmir.
Such actions directly affected the country's palm oil purchase by India, before other sectors started to be affected.
However, new fields, such as semiconductors, financial technology, defence, artificial intelligence and quantum technology sparked cooperation between the two nations.
Anwar and Modi also discussed bilateral trade potentials in rupee and ringgit, with India attempting to increase acceptance of its currency due to its dependence on the US dollar.
Anwar said Bank Negara Malaysia has agreed to more Malaysia-India trade exchange using national currencies, as similar moves were successfully proven with China, Thailand and Indonesia.
He also suggested more countries use their respective currencies in trade, instead of relying on the old financial system tied to the US dollar.
Modi said India-Malaysia trade recorded growth in the latest transactions using rupee and ringgit.
A joint India-Malaysia statement said the two prime ministers, in their talks, "appreciated the collaboration between the Reserve Bank of India and BNM to promote usage of local currency settlement in bilateral trade and investments, and encouraged industries on both sides to further facilitate the invoicing and settlement of trade in local currencies".
Malaysia is also aiming to diversify economic diplomacy through participation in inter-government platforms such as BRICS in enhancing cooperation in joint-initiatives and strategic partnerships.
Hence, Malaysia has submitted an application, with the support of India, to join the economic bloc, which was established in 2009.
Among the earliest to join as state members are Brazil, Russia, India and China, followed by South Africa in 2010 and countries including Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined as new members in January.