Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ SriIsmail Sabri bin Yaakob and a high-ranking delegation of the MalaysianGovernment left Hanoi on March 22, successfully concluding their three-day officialvisit to Vietnam.

During the visit, the Malaysian PM held talks with VietnamesePrime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, witnessed the signing of cooperation agreementsbetween the two countries, and attended a banquet hosted by PM Chinh.

PM Ismail Sabri paid a courtesy call on Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and met with President Nguyen XuanPhuc and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

He received leaders of a number of Vietnamese businesses and met with the Malaysian community in Vietnam. A Vietnam-Malaysia joint press statementwas also issued during the visit.

Accordingly, the leaders commended the strong andsubstantive development of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.Both sides agreed to further strengthen political trust and develop the Vietnam - Malaysia Strategic Partnership in a deeper and more comprehensivemanner ahead of the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic relationsin 2023.

Both sides affirmed their commitments towards deepening politicaland economic cooperation by promoting and conducting regular high-level meetings, strengthening existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, notablythe Joint Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation(JCM) and the Joint Trade Committee (JTC). Both sides agreed to continueworking closely for the effective implementation of their signed agreements,including the Vietnam – Malaysia Plan of Action for the implementation of theStrategic Partnership for 2021 – 2025.

The leaders emphasised the importance of steadily promotinga strong, balanced and sustainable two-way trade, striving towards the target of18 billion USD by 2025 with a view to having balanced trade between the two countries. In this regard, they agreed to explore ways to improve market accessfor key export products of both countries, including agricultural andaquatic products, Halal products, processed food, electronic componentsand products.

Both sides agreed to further facilitate the expansion ofinvestment in the two countries, particularly in high potential areas such asautomation, smart logistics, innovation, high technology, digital economy,digital transformation. They expressed satisfaction with their defence andsecurity cooperation and agreed to enhance information exchange and cooperationbetween the navy and coast guard forces of the two countries to effectivelyaddress emerging maritime issues. They concurred to strengthen maritime andocean cooperation in the priority fields such as sustainable development of maritimeeconomy, management of maritime resources and protection of the marine environment.

The leaders reiterated the importance of closer cooperationtowards economic resilience and sustainable development in the post-pandemic period. Both sides agreed to accelerate negotiations for a new Agreement onAir Services and welcomed the early conclusion of the agreement on mutualrecognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates, which will facilitate thesafe and regular commercial travel between both countries.

They also reiterated the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s consistent position on the East Sea andreaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, safety,and freedom of navigation and over-flight in and above the East Sea, andpeaceful resolution of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force, inaccordance with the universally recognised principles of international law,including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).They called for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) in its entirety, and wereencouraged by the progress of the substantive negotiations towards theconclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, including 1982 UNCLOS. Theyemphasised the need to maintain and promote an environment conducive to the COCnegotiations.

PM Ismail Sabri highly appreciated the warmwelcome and gracious hospitality reserved for the Malaysian delegation by theLeaders and the people of Vietnam during the visit. The Malaysian PM took this occasion to invite the leaders of Vietnam to visit Malaysia at the convenientopportunities.

The two PMs witnessed the exchange of a number of cooperationdocuments, including an MoU on recruitment, employment and repatriation oflabourers, and another on legal cooperation between the Vietnamese andMalaysian governments, and a Letter of Intent expressing the intention to facilitate work towards the finalisation of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Institute of Diplomatic and Foreign Relations of Malaysia and the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on cooperation in the field of training diplomats. The PMs welcomed thesigning of a cooperation agreement between the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) andMalaysian National News Agency (Bernama).

The official visit to Vietnam by Malaysian PM Ismail Sabri took place at a time when the Vietnam-Malaysia traditionalfriendship and strategic partnership have been thriving towards the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties (1973-2023).

It aimed to further strengthen the bilateral relations and cooperation in thepost-pandemic period. It also offers a chance for both sides to explore newaspects of bilateral ties, discuss regional and international issues of commonconcern, and promote bilateral trade and investment./.