Vietnamese, Malaysian navies seek stronger cooperation

Hung, who is accompanying Party General Secretary To Lam on an official visit to Malaysia, congratulated Zulhelmy on his recent appointment as the Chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy in September 2024.

He expressed his hope that, in his new position, Zulhelmy will continue to lead the Royal Malaysian Navy towards further development and contribute to peace, stability, and prosperity in the region.

Hung took this occasion to convey the congratulations from Rear Admiral Tran Thanh Nghiem, Commander of the Vietnam People's Navy, to Zulhelmy.

Hung noted that, after more than 50 years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Malaysia and nearly 10 years of bilateral strategic partnership, the relationship between the two countries has been continually strengthened and developed, becoming deeper and more substantive across all areas.

Particularly, Vietnam and Malaysia are neighbouring coastal nations with many similarities in history and culture, both members of the "common roof" of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), he said.

Along with the robust development of the bilateral relations, cooperation between the two armies, and particularly the two navies, has consistently been reinforced and enhanced, with many positive results in recent years, he noted.

He said that the Navy Chiefs of both countries have maintained regular contact through visits, talks, and informal meetings, adding that the two sides have established, maintained, and effectively utilised a bilateral naval consultation mechanism, regularly sending delegations and ships to participate in multilateral activities hosted by either party, providing mutual support in hydrographic cooperation, and assisting in the training of command officers for the Vietnam People’s Navy.

For his part, Zulhelmy took this occasion to invite the Commander of the Vietnam People's Navy to pay an official visit to Malaysia soon.

Regarding bilateral naval cooperation, Zulhelmy affirmed Malaysia's readiness to strengthen and enhance the cooperative relationship in the future, including welcoming Vietnamese naval vessels to visit Malaysia.

As Malaysia prepares to assume the rotating ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025, Zulhelmy expressed his hope for Vietnam's support in ensuring Malaysia's successful chairmanship, particularly in strengthening and expanding cooperation between the two navies.

He also invited the Vietnam side to send a delegation to the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA), which Malaysia hosts biennially.

To further enhance naval cooperation, the two sides agreed to continue discussions on establishing a joint maritime patrol mechanism and a communication channel between their navies. This aims to maintain peace and stability in adjacent maritime areas and effectively address non-traditional security challenges.

Both sides also committed to promptly sharing information and coordinating to resolve incidents involving fishing vessels and fishermen of either country violating each other's territorial waters, aiming to prevent and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

At the meeting, Hung signed the Royal Malaysian Navy's guestbook and exchanged emblems of the two navies.