Prime Minister hails visit by Malaysian Foreign Minister
Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hailed the
ongoing Vietnam visit by Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Zambry Abdul Kadir on the occasion of the 50th anniversary
of Vietnam-Malaysia diplomatic ties this year, during a reception in Hanoi on
July 19.
PM Chinh welcomed the Malaysian Foreign Minister and his Vietnamese
counterpart to co-chair the seventh meeting of the Joint Commission for
Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation from July 19-20, contributing to
reviewing the implementation of cooperation agreements between the two
countries and preparing for the official Vietnam visit by the Malaysian Prime
Minister and his spouse from July 20-21.
FM Zambry Abdul Kadir, for his part, affirmed that Malaysia always
values and wishes to further enhance multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam, its
sole strategic partner within ASEAN.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the two countries' achievements made
in various areas, especially in economy, trade and investment. Malaysia
is now Vietnam’s second largest trade partner in ASEAN and the ninth biggest in
the world. Two-way trade surpassed 14.8 billion USD last year, up 17.9% annually.
Malaysia is also among the top 10 biggest investors in Vietnam, with 718 valid projects
with a total registered capital of 13 billion USD.
PM Chinh suggested both sides
continue with effective cooperation in various fields under the Plan of Action
to Implement the Strategic Partnership for the 2021-2025 period, facilitate the
exchange of delegations at high level and jointly hold celebrations for the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. He expressed his desire to achieve a balanced two-way
trade volume of 18 billion USD.
Vietnam will create favourable conditions for
Malaysian firms to expand their operations in the country, he said.
He stressed that the two sides need to bolster
collaboration in other important areas such as national defence, security,
maritime, education-training, sci-tech, labour, culture, sports, tourism, and
people-to-people exchange, while expanding joint work in emerging fields such as
digital economy, circular economy, and green energy.
The host proposed Malaysia help Vietnam build
capacity and develop Halal industry, as well as recognise Vietnam's efforts in
combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and support the European
Union’s removal of the IUU yellow card warning against Vietnam's fisheries industry.
The guest pledged that at the meeting of the commission
on July 20, both sides will review and propose directions for the
implementation of bilateral high-level agreements.
The upcoming Vietnam visit by Malaysian PM Anwar
Ibrahim will contribute to deepening bilateral strategic partnership in a
substantial manner, he stressed.
He also shared the view that both sides need
to work closely together at global and regional forums, maintain the unity and
central role of ASEAN, and contribute to peace, stability, cooperation and
development in the region and the world./.