Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the proposal while receiving his Malaysian counterpart Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak in Hanoi on April 8.

He welcomed Mr Razak to the ongoing 16^th ASEAN summit in Hanoi and said Vietnam will work closely with Malaysia to bring bilateral relations to new heights for mutual benefit and common development.

Cooperative ties between Vietnam and Malaysia have fared well in all areas, from politics and diplomacy to economics, trade, investment, security, national defence, education-training and labour, said Mr Dung.

He went on to say that two-way trade last year reached US$4 billion and Malaysia is one of Vietnam’s leading investors in construction, electricity and water supplies, gas exploration, mechanics and banking.

For his part, PM Razak praised Vietnam’s preparations for the summit and voiced his support for the country in fulfilling its duty as ASEAN Chair this year.

Malaysia wants to foster comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam, especially in investment, banking, labour, tourism, education and training, said Mr Razak.

He said he is looking forward to paying an official visit to Vietnam and attending an East Asia Summit in Hanoi. He said Malaysian businesses are satisfied with the investment environment in Vietnam and want to expand operations in the country.

The two PMs witnessed the signing of documents to build a thermal power plant in the Red River Delta province of Hai Duong between Malaysia’s Jaks Resource Berhad group and Vietnamese counterparts.

The US$1.8 billion plant has two generators with a design capacity of 1,200MW. It will be built in Kinh Mon district and expected to generate power in 2014.