India-Malaysia 2nd Joint Working Group Meeting on Public Administration and Governance Reforms

India and Malaysia held the 2nd Joint Working Group (JWG) Meeting on Cooperation in the Field of Public Administration and Governance Reforms on August 18, 2026. The meeting was co-chaired by Puneet Yadav, Additional Secretary at DARPG, and Datuk Dr. Mohd Bakhari bin Ismail, Deputy Director General of Public Service (Development), Malaysia, with senior officials from DARPG, the Ministry of External Affairs, the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur, and the National Centre for Good Governance also taking part.

India-Malaysia Reaffirm Commitment to Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation

Opening the meeting, Puneet Yadav pointed to the long-standing ties between the two nations, noting how the relationship was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in August 2024, with PM Modi's visit to Malaysia in February 2026 giving the partnership further momentum. The JWG reviewed the progress made since its first meeting held back in November 2024, confirming the earlier minutes and assigning points of contact from both sides to keep implementation on track.

India-Malaysia to Strengthen National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) and Public Service Department of Malaysia

Both sides agreed to build a stronger institutional relationship between India's NCGG and Malaysia's Public Service Department, aiming to identify practical, outcome-driven areas of cooperation. Malaysia acknowledged the support it has received so far from DARPG, NCGG, and the Indian High Commission, and both countries committed to deepening knowledge exchange and joint capacity-building efforts.

Important Points Discussed in India-Malaysia 2nd Joint Working Group Meeting

1. Capacity-building cooperation under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme was reviewed, with Malaysia sharing positive feedback on academic modules, institutional visits, and coordination support
2. Plans for capacity-building programmes for the 2026 and 2027 cohorts were discussed
3. Malaysia welcomed the proposal to design specialised programmes for senior Malaysian officials.
4. Both sides exchanged experiences on public sector modernisation, with Malaysia outlining its approach based on People, Process and Technology.
5. Discussions covered digital government, AI, cloud services, cybersecurity, blockchain, and data-driven governance.
6. India showcased CPGRAMS, its centralised 24x7 digital grievance redressal platform, along with the AI-powered chatbot "Samadhan Didi," launched on May 30, 2026, to make grievance redressal more accessible and multilingual
7. Malaysia presented its Action Plan for the Malaysia-India Governance Partnership: 2027-2029 Strategic Roadmap, laying out a three-year implementation framework under the MoU.