Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh held talks with his Malaysian counterpart Anifah Aman in Kuala Lumpur on February 8 as part of his two-day visit to Malaysia.

The two FMs appreciated the fine development of friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries and agreed to promote the exchange of high-level visits in the future. They affirmed their determination to maintain current mechanism of bilateral cooperation and devise measures to increase bilateral trade to US$10 billion.

Minister Anifah Aman praised State President Truong Tan Sang’s visit to Malaysia last October, saying that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will visit Vietnam this year.

On cooperation in national defence and security, the two sides spoke highly of the enhancement of cooperation in fighting trans-national crimes.

On labour, Minister Anifah Aman said that the Malaysian government is implementing a programme on management of foreign workers, encouraging Vietnamese workers to join this programme to have legal working conditions and more effective working results.

On fishermen and fishing, both sides underlined the need to set up a cooperation mechanism in line with the benefits of both sides.

Regarding regional and international issues of common concern, the two sides agreed to coordinate and cooperate with other ASEAN countries in building a united and strong ASEAN Community in 2015 when Malaysia will perform its role as ASEAN Chair.

They also stressed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, maritime security, safety and freedom in the East Sea and settling disputes through peaceful solutions in accordance with international laws, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on Conduct of the Parties in the East Sea (DOC) towards the building of the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).