Promoting Vietnam-Malaysia strategic partnership
VOV.VN - Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob will pay an official visit to Vietnam from March 20-21 at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
This is Sabri Yaakob’s first visit to Vietnam as Prime Minister of Malaysia since he took office in August 2021. It takes place at a time when the traditional friendship and strategic partnership between Vietnam and Malaysia is developing well. The two countries are looking forward to celebrating 50 years of bilateral diplomatic relations in 2023.
Vietnam and Malaysia established diplomatic relations on March 30, 1973, and bilateral cooperation has been since promoted constantly, especially after their strategic partnership was launched in August 2015.
The two countries are actively implementing an action programme aimed at realising their strategic partnership for the 2021-2025 period, which was approved at the 6th meeting of the Vietnam – Malaysia Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation in November 2021.
The two sides had regularly exchanged high-level delegations to facilitate bilateral cooperation. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have maintained high-level contact in flexible forms of phone talks and videoconferencing.
The two countries have been effectively implementing a number of bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, the Defense Cooperation Committee, the Joint Trade Committee, and the Science and Technology Cooperation Committee.
On defense and security cooperation, Vietnam and Malaysia signed an agreement on defense cooperation in August 2008, a letter of intent on defense cooperation in February 2015, and an agreement on transnational crime prevention and control in 2015.
Malaysia is Vietnam’s second largest trading partner in ASEAN and the ninth in the world, while Vietnam is Malaysia’s third largest trading partner in ASEAN.
Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Malaysia last year reached US$12.5 billion, a year-on-year rise of 25.3%. In the first two months of 2022 bilateral trade value inched up 20% over the same period last year to US$2.2 billion. Major Vietnamese exports are phones and components, crude oil, rice, coffee, seafood, while its major imports are computers and electronic products, machinery and equipment, petroleum, household electrical goods and components, and chemicals.
With 668 valid projects valued at US$13 billion, Malaysia is the second largest investor in Vietnam among Southeast Asian nations and the 10th largest out of 140 global investors in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Vietnam has 21 valid investment projects in Malaysia with a total registered capital of US$853 million, ranking 9th out of 78 investors globally.
The two countries have strengthened cooperation not only in politics-security, economy and trade but also in education and tourism. They signed a Memorandum of Understanding on educational cooperation in 2019, and a tourism cooperation agreement in 1994. More than 600,000 Malaysians visited Vietnam in 2019, up 12.2% compared to 2018.
Both Vietnam and Malaysia have made efforts to jointly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic since its emergence in early 2020. Vietnam deployed medical aid worth US$50,000 equivalent to 6,500 PPE to Malaysia. The Vietnam National Assembly also presented 20,000 medical masks to the Malaysian Parliament through the Malaysian Embassy in Hanoi.
Neermal Shunmugam, Chargé d'Affaires of the Malaysian Embassy in Vietnam, noted that the Malaysian PM’s visit aims to further strengthen bilateral relations in the post pandemic period. The visit, he said also presents an opportunity for the two sides to promote trade - investment cooperation and explore new areas of cooperation, alongside discussing regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Tran Viet Thai pointed out that all-round cooperation between the two countries will certainly be fostered in the coming time, particularly after Vietnam reopened its borders on March 15 and Malaysia is scheduled to do the same on April 1.
The two countries should take advantage of this ‘golden moment’ to stimulate tourism and attract investment in order to make recovery stronger together, stressed the Ambassador.
The Ambassador expressed confidence that the Malaysian PM’s visit to Hanoi will open up plenty of opportunities for bilateral co-operation moving forward.
