Vietnam and Malaysia to eye US$18 billion trade target

The agreement was reached during a meeting in Hanoi on July 19 between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zambry Abdul Kadir who is in Hanoi to co-chair the seventh of the Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Chinh and Kadir expressed their satisfaction at the positive developments of the cooperative relations across all fields, especially in economy, trade and investment between Vietnam and Malaysia.

Malaysia is Vietnam’s second largest trading partner in ASEAN and the ninth in the world, with two-way trade turnover reaching more than US$14.8 billion last year, up 17.9% compared to 2021. Malaysia is also one of the top 10 foreign investors in Vietnam, with 718 valid projects valued at US$13 billion.

Chinh suggested that the two sides effectively implement cooperation areas prescribed in the Action Programme to realize the Vietnam – Malaysia Strategic Partnership for the 2021-2025 period, aiming to soon bring bilateral trade turnover to US$18 billion in a more balanced direction.

Vietnam will create favourable conditions for Malaysian businesses to continue to expand investment and trade with Vietnam, he assured his guest.

The PM also underlined the need to ramp up cooperation in other important fields such as defense-security, maritime, education-training, science-technology, labour, culture, sports, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, while expanding cooperation in new fields including digital economy, circular economy, and green energy.

He also asked Malaysia to support Vietnam in capacity building and development of the Halal industry, and to recognize Vietnam’s efforts in combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Kadir for his part agreed with the Prime Minister's assessment of the potential for cooperation between the two countries as well as the development direction to bring bilateral relations to new heights in the coming time. These issues, he said, will be examined at the seventh session of the joint committee in Hanoi on July 20.

The official visit to Vietnam by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on July 20-21 will contribute to deepening the strategic partnership between the two countries, he stressed.

He also agreed that the two countries should continue to closely coordinate at regional and international forums, and maintain the unity and central role of ASEAN, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the rest of the world.