Senior Malaysian officials are floating the idea to twin Chennai and Kuala Lumpur as sister cities to bolster the existing deep-rooted bilateral ties between Malaysia and India.

Officials in KL are believed to have proposed the idea and are likely to get the cabinet's approval to move the plan to twin both the fast-growing cities.

"It will augur well for both nations because we have very long-standing relations, especially with South India, where many of the Indian population have originated from Tamil Nadu.

"It will give a different political dimension to our relationship and boost the two-way trade and cultural linkages," a high-level Malaysian official familiar with the proposal told Bernama.

However, the political arrangement would need the endorsement of India's External Affairs Ministry in Delhi before the idea could be taken to a different level.

Chennai city in Tamil Nadu has established sister relationships with five other cities around the globe - Cairo, Egypt, Denver, United States (US), Frankfurt, Germany, San Antonio, US and Volgograd in Russia.

Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, has a population of over eight million while Chennai city itself has about 4.5 million people.

At least 14 major Indian cities have sister relationships with foreign cities worldwide.

- Bernama