Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad arrived in Hanoi on August 26 night, starting his official visit to Vietnam on August 27-28 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (second from left)
is welcomed at Noi Bai International Airport. (Photo: VNA) 

The visit is taking place in the context of positive developments in Vietnam-Malaysia ties. Political relations are growing close and trustful through the maintenance of visit exchanges and effective operation of bilateral cooperative mechanisms. 

Collaboration across the fields from economics-trade to defence-security, labour and tourism, is expanding. The two countries have effectively coordinated at regional and international forums, especially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations (UN). 

 Vietnam and Malaysia established diplomatic relationship on March 30, 1973, and the friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries have unceasingly developed in all spheres. 

 The two countries issued a joint statement on their strategic partnership framework during PM Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Malaysia in 2015, and approved a plan of actions to implement the strategic partnership in March 2017. 

 Economic-trade-investment cooperation is an outstanding feature in bilateral ties. 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 in 2018, up 13.2 percent from the previous year. Vietnam exports to Malaysia mainly crude oil, rice, coffee and seafood, while importing steel, petrol, plant and animal oil, plastic materials, machineries, equipment, computers and electronic goods.

 Petro Vietnam and Petronas Malaysia have partnered up since 1991 in oil and gas exploration, processing and service. The two companies are implementing 10 joint projects. 

 Regarding investment, as of April 2019 Malaysia had 586 investment projects in Vietnam with total registered capital reaching 12.4 billion USD, ranking 8th among 130 foreign investors in the country. Vietnamese investors poured 1.53 billion USD in 19 projects in Malaysia. 

 The two countries have also expanded cooperation in other fields, such as labour, education and tourism.