VGP – Viet Nam and Malaysia have agreed to double efforts to raise two-way trade to at least US$15 billion  by 2020.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R)
welcomes Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah on his first
official visit to Viet Nam. Photo: VGP

The agreement was reached by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah during their talks in Ha Noi on Thursday.

Minh welcomed Saifuddin on his first official visit to Viet Nam, expressing his belief the visit would help further consolidate and enhance the strategic partnership between the sides.

The pair expressed their pleasure at the comprehensive and sustainable advancement of the bilateral ties over the past time and agreed to step up delegation exchanges across levels and channels.

Both sides agreed to maintain effective cooperation mechanisms, especially the Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation co-chaired by the two Foreign Ministers.

The two sides vowed to work together to facilitate mutual investment inflows, particularly in such potential areas like urban development and renewable energy among others.

Minh spoke highly of the bilateral cooperation in defense and security and agreed with the Malaysian side to mull over the signing of new deals in defense-security and law enforcement.

Both sides discussed on practical measures to further improve the quality of cooperation in education and training, labor, transport, culture-tourism and especially maritime cooperation.

Saifuddin reiterated Malaysia always attaches importance to all-round cooperation with Viet Nam, pledging Malaysian Foreign Ministry will coordinate closely with the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry to soon design an action program for realization of the Viet Nam-Malaysia strategic partnership in the next stage.

He also committed to creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese community to learn and work in his country.

Regarding regional and international issues of mutual concerns, the two sides agreed to foster consultation and coordination in security and strategic matters in the region while collaborating with other ASEAN member countries to consolidate and strengthen solidarity and central role of the bloc in the regional architecture.

The pair also agreed to continue close coordination at other multilateral fora like the UN, WTO, APEC and ASEM, accelerate regional economic connectivity through the deals such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to which Viet Nam and Malaysia are signatories.

The Malaysian side pledged to support Viet Nam to successfully undertake the ASEAN Chairmanship role in 2020 and win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 tenure. Meanwhile, Viet Nam affirmed to work closely with and back Malaysia to successfully host the APEC Year 2020.

Both sides shared their views on recent developments in the East Sea, reaffirming their consistent positions of peacefully settling disputes in line with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

They stressed the need to strengthen trust as well as the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint in the East Sea.

The two sides reaffirmed their support for full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and for accelerating talks for an effective and substantial Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The same day, the Malaysian Foreign Minister paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the Government Office./.