Malaysia upbeat about stronger strategic ties with Vietnam: diplomat
VOV.VN - Malaysia attaches great importance to its relations with Vietnam, viewing it as one of Malaysia’s closest partners in terms of economic and social affairs, said Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir.
Zambry, in a recent interview granted to Vietnam News Agency, described the achievements that Vietnam and Malaysia have recorded over the past 50 years as remarkable and outstanding.
Bilateral relations have positively developed across various fields, especially after the two countries upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership in 2015, said Zambry.
According to the Minister, both countries have carried out numerous activities in line with the ongoing 2021 - 2025 Plan of Action (POA) for implementation of the Vietnam – Malaysia strategic partnership, in which a primary focus is on post-pandemic recovery efforts ranging from the economy to public health.
The Malaysian Minister added that he was optimistic about the bright prospects ahead for bilateral relations moving forward, sharing his belief that the two countries will reap even more tremendous gains.
Malaysia is strongly committed to cultivating ties of close friendship and cooperative relations with Vietnam, including further expanding cooperation in emerging and mutually-beneficial fields, said the diplomat.
He went on to say that Malaysia is greatly impressed with strong Vietnamese economic growth over the past decade, and the two countries should seek to strengthen their economic partnership by encouraging further trade and investment flows, he suggested.
In this regard, he said that Malaysia is ready to join Vietnam in exploring opportunities to further improve market access for top export products of the two countries.
The Malaysian Foreign Minister also expressed his pleasure at the fruitful cooperation in defence between the two countries, noting that Malaysia is looking forward to renewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on bilateral defense cooperation which previously expired in 2018.
He revealed that Malaysia would therefore seek to undertake more activities this year in a bid to further promote mutual understanding, ties of friendship, and the close bond that exists between the two countries’ people as a means of contributing to deepening their strategic partnership.
Vietnam and Malaysia established diplomatic ties on March 30, 1973, before lifting their relationship to a level of strategic partnership in 2015.
Bilateral cooperation has yielded positive results across a range of fields, including economics, trade, and investment.
Two-way trade turnover between the two countries reached roughly US$19.4 billion in 2022, marking a 16% increase compared to 2021. Last year witnessed Vietnam become the 12th largest trading partner of Malaysia and its fourth largest in ASEAN, behind Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Both countries are members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
