The Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia and the Malaysian Foreign Ministry
jointly held a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on March 29 to celebrate the 40
th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties.
Addressing the event, Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister A. Kohilan
Pillay expressed his pleasure at the continuously developing relations
between Vietnam and Malaysia since they se up diplomatic ties on
March 30, 1973.
Both countries are now ASEAN members and become each other’s important economic partner, he said.
According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Nguyen Hong Thao, over
the past 40 years, together with the common development of the region
and the world, the Vietnam-Malaysia relationship has seen new progress,
both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Since the two
countries signed the joint statement on the comprehensive cooperation
framework in 21 st century, their relations have ceaselessly developed
in various fields, including politics, economics, defence and security,
he added.
Many visits have been paid by the two
countries’ high-ranking leaders, especially the Malaysia visit of
President Truong Tan Sang on September 2011 and the Malaysian King’s
visit to Vietnam in March 2009.
Despite the
global economic downturn, two-way trade between Vietnam and Malaysia
hit over 9 billion USD in 2012, a rise of 25.27 percent compared to
the previous year’s figure.
By 2012, Malaysia had
more than 400 projects in Vietnam with a total registered investment
of over 10 billion USD, ranking seventh among Vietnam ’s investors.
In addition, bilateral cooperation in education and
training, culture, sports and tourism has also recorded encouraging
results. Last year, 200,000 Vietnamese visited Malaysia while the
number of Malaysian tourists to Vietnam was 300,000.
On the occasion, President Truong Tan Sang, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh extended their greetings to
Malaysian King Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
and Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.
They expressed
their belief that the two countries’ relationship will further develop
in the future for the interests of both peoples as well as for peace,
stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.-VNA