Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi expressed satisfaction at the constant development of friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, particularly in economics and trade, during their talks in Kuala Lumpur on August 30.
The two PMs noted that two-way trade value has increased significantly in recent years, reaching US$2.7 billion in 2006, up 26 percent against 2005. In the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade was US$1.7 billion and is expected to increase to US$3 billion by the end of the year.
Currently, Malaysia has 220 operating projects in Vietnam with a combined investment capitalisation of nearly US$2 billion. About 110,000 Vietnamese nationals are working in Malaysia under labour export contracts.
Host and guest spoke of the efficient cooperation between the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) and the Petroliam Nasional Berhad of Malaysia (Petronas Malaysia), considering it a role model for cooperation between the two countries.
They assigned their Ministries of Foreign Affairs to step up the building of a plan of action to implement the Vietnam-Malaysia joint statement on the framework of comprehensive cooperation in the 21st century signed by the two countries’ leaders.
They said the two governments will try their best to promote bilateral investment and trade ties, particularly in the fields of power generation, banking and labour. In this spirit, Mr Dung told his host that he had asked Vietnamese ministries and sectors to create favourable conditions for Malaysian businesses to develop a power project in southern Binh Thuan province and open bank branches in Vietnam.
In turn, Mr Badawi pledged to receive more Vietnamese guest workers and wished that Malaysia would import more Vietnamese products to balance bilateral trade.
They agreed to accelerate the establishment of the ASEAN Community by 2015 together with other ASEAN leaders. To this end, they agreed to adopt the ASEAN Charter at the upcoming ASEAN summit in Singapore later this year to lay a firm legal foundation for establishing the community.
They also reached a consensus on areas of cooperation in the East Sea for the benefit of the two countries and for peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.
In the afternoon, Mr Dung met and talked with officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung arrived in Kuala Lumpur on August 30 to attend activities to mark the 50th anniversary of Malaysia’s Independence Day at the invitation of his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Bin Haji Ahmad Badawi. Celebrations will take place on August 31.
