The first Vietnam Market in Malaysia with 200 pavilions is scheduled to open in March 2020.

Tansri Matshah Safuan, President of Malaysia’s Safuan Group 

The information was revealed at a ceremony to announce the project in Ho Chi Minh City on November 9.

Tansri Matshah Safuan, President of Malaysia’s Safuan Group, said the Vietnam Market in Kuala Lumpur will be the first large-scale trade centre as part of the cooperation between the two countries.

It is established based on the demand for Vietnamese goods and services in Malaysia, he said.

The market will serve as a bridge to boost the export of Vietnamese goods to Singapore, Thailand and other markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), he added.

The Vietnam Market will consist of a six-storey shopping centre in Safuan Plaza building in downtown Kuala Lumpur, next to major shopping centres, commercial streets and famous tourist destinations.

It is expected to gather businesses exporting agricultural products, seafood, handicrafts, garments, mechanical equipment, machines, cosmetics, proprietary technologies, and service industries of Vietnam, as well as an ideal place for Vietnamese firms to expand operation in Malaysia.

Nguyen Tuan, Deputy Director for the Investment & Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC), said Malaysia is the sixth largest trading partner of Vietnam, after China, the Republic of Korea, the US, Japan and Thailand, and the second biggest trading partner of Vietnam in ASEAN.

Vice versa, Vietnam is now the 12th largest trading partner of Malaysia and the fourth biggest in ASEAN. Vietnam is also one of the major suppliers of rice for Malaysia, according to Tuan.

In 2018, Vietnam exported 8.47 billion USD worth of goods to Malaysia while importing 4.77 billion USD from the market. The figures in the first half of 2019 were 3.52 billion USD and 1.95 billion USD, respectively.