Although thetrade value seemed to be small, but it is an encouraging figure asVietnam is still at the early stages of development, he told Bernamaafter attending a dinner with the Malaysian contingent to the ASEANSkills Competition in Hanoi on October 27.
He said the trade ties should be further enhanced so as to benefit from close relations between Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi.
Azmil said the bilateral ties had opened doors in the areas of tradeand investment for both countries and it was expected to grow rapidly infuture.
He said Malaysia's investment in Vietnamreached 20 billion USD (65.5 billion RM) over the past 20 years andcurrently, more than 400 Malaysian companies were doing business withVietnam, mostly in real estate projects.
Malaysiancompanies seeking foreign labour should turn to Vietnam as it isequipping its youths with skills for the plantation and manufacturingsectors before sending them to work abroad, he said, adding thatcurrently, about 20,000 Vietnamese workers were working in Malaysia.
He said with a population of about 90 million, Vietnam provided asignificant opportunity in real estate development and Malaysianproducts.
"In fact, Malaysian companies are involvedin about 450 projects worth 11 billion USD (36 billion RM) eitherwholly owned or on joint-venture basis," he said.
Hesaid currently, about 1,500 Malaysian entrepreneurs were registeredwith the Malaysian Embassy in Vietnam, 700 of them were doing businessin Ho Chi Minh City while the rest in Hanoi.
Azmilsaid apart from enhancing trade and investment between both countries,the embassy was also ironing out constraints faced by Malaysiancompanies operating in Vietnam.-VNA