Viet Nam, Malaysia target to raise trade to US$ 18 billion by 2025

The agreement was reached by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and visiting Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim during their summit meeting in Ha Noi on July 20.

Anwar Ibrahim is on an official visit to Viet Nam on the occassion of the 50th founding anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic ties (1973-2023). 

The leaders also agreed to minimize the use of trade barriers and facilitate the export and import of potential and advantageous commodities, such as agricultural and aquatic products, food, electronic components and construction materials; make the best use of regional trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP); expand connections in the fields of digital economy, circular economy, green economy, and sharing economy.

Viet Nam stands ready to provide rice in a stable and long-term manner for Malaysia, Pham said.

 He suggested Malaysia support Viet Nam to develop the Halal industry and soon sign a cooperation document in this area.

The pair discussed ways to strengthen partnership in defense and security and promote the signing of related documents

They agreed to work together to fight terrorism and transnational crimes. 

Prime Minister Pham took the occasion to seek Malaysia’s support for Viet Nam’s efforts to have the European Commission’s “yellow card” warning against seafood lifted. 

Both sides agreed to explore possibilities to renew aviation and tourism cooperation agreements, increase flights connecting the two sides, and foster ties in education - training, labor, agriculture, culture, and sports. 

Prime Minister Pham thanked and asked the Malaysian side to continue creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, work, and study there and assist the Malaysia – Viet Nam Friendship Association to operate fruitfully to contribute to people-to-people exchanges.

Regarding multilateral and regional cooperation, the Pham highly valued their countries’ coordination at and mutual support for each other’s candidacy for membership of international organizations.

They agreed that the two sides would coordinate with other ASEAN members to ensure the bloc’s solidarity and unity and jointly propose suitable initiatives to help carry out ASEAN’s priorities for 2023.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister also voiced support for Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to maintain ASEAN’s common stance on the East Sea issue, keep coordination in the negotiations on a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea, and make active contributions to the building of a practical and efficient COC that matches international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

After the meeting, they witnessed the signing of two documents, namely the minutes of the 7th meeting of the Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, and a memorandum of understanding between the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia./.