Viet Nam, Malaysia target to early raise bilateral trade turnover to US$18 billion

National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyen Khac Dinh had a meeting with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Haji Fadillah bin Haji Yusof on August 7 during his working visit to Malaysia from August 6-9.

Nguyen proposed the two sides finalize negotiations and sign other important agreements on defense, security, and education, thus creating a foundation and framework for broader cooperation between the two countries, towards further promoting and deepening the Viet Nam-Malaysia Strategic Partnership,

He also suggested the two countries consolidate their understanding and solidarity by promoting cooperation programs on human resources training and development in the fields that the two sides have strength, and creating favorable conditions for citizens of each country.

In reply, Yusof said that there remains abundant potential for the two countries to cooperate in the Halal food sector.

The host leader proposed Viet Nam establish an agency for Halal food, which could refer to Malaysia's standards, models, and production processes of Halal food.

The Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister highly spoke of Viet Nam's great potential for developing green energy, the two countries can expand bilateral cooperation as well as partnership within ASEAN, following cooperation models of the European Union’s member countries.

Viet Nam is Malaysia's only strategic partner in ASEAN, while Malaysia is the second-largest trade partner of Viet Nam in the bloc and the 11th in the world.

The two countries closely cooperate in regional and international forums such as ASEAN, the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and others.

The relationship between the two countries’ legislative bodies continues to be strengthened both bilaterally and multilaterally, contributing to promoting the bilateral relations.

Last year, the two countries jointly celebrated the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties./.