Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (second from left) is welcomed at Noi Bai International Airport. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad arrived inHanoi on August 26 night, starting his official visit to Vietnam on August27-28 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
The visit is taking place in the context of positivedevelopments in Vietnam-Malaysia ties. Political relations are growing closeand trustful through the maintenance of visit exchanges and effective operationof bilateral cooperative mechanisms. Collaboration across the fields fromeconomics-trade to defence-security, labour and tourism, is expanding. The twocountries have effectively coordinated at regional and international forums,especially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UnitedNations (UN).
Vietnam and Malaysia established diplomatic relationship on March 30, 1973, andthe friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries have unceasinglydeveloped in all spheres.
The two countries issued a joint statement on their strategic partnershipframework during PM Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Malaysia in 2015, and approved aplan of actions to implement the strategic partnership in March 2017.
Economic-trade-investment cooperation is an outstanding feature in bilateralties. The two countries are among the top 10 trade partners of each other.Bilateral trade value has enjoyed good growth, reaching 11.5 billion USD in2018, up 13.2 percent from the previous year. Vietnam exports to Malaysiamainly crude oil, rice, coffee and seafood, while importing steel, petrol,plant and animal oil, plastic materials, machineries, equipment, computers andelectronic goods.
Petro Vietnam and Petronas Malaysia have partnered up since 1991 in oil and gasexploration, processing and service. The two companies are implementing 10joint projects.
Regarding investment, as of April 2019 Malaysia had 586 investment projects inVietnam with total registered capital reaching 12.4 billion USD, ranking 8thamong 130 foreign investors in the country. Vietnamese investors poured 1.53billion USD in 19 projects in Malaysia.
The two countries have also expanded cooperation in other fields, such aslabour, education and tourism. -VNA
VNA
