The friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and
Malaysia will see new development, meeting the two peoples’ interest,
for peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region and the
world at large.
President of the Vietnam-Malaysia
Friendship Association (VMFA) Do Huu Hao and Malaysian Ambassador Dato
Azmil Zabidi shared the view at the March 29 ceremony to mark the 40 th
anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties (March 30).
The event was jointly held by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Malaysian Embassy.
On the plane of politics, the two countries have conducted exchange of
high-ranking delegations with the most worthy of note being the visit
to Malaysia by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in April 2004 which resulted
in the signing of the joint statement on the comprehensive cooperation
framework in the 21st century and the state-level visit by President
Truong Tan Sang in September 2011.
Malaysian leaders
who officially visited Vietnam included Senate President Abdul Hamid
Pawanteh in 2007 and 13th King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni
Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah in 2009.
Vietnam and Malaysia have actively supported each other at
regional and international forums. The two sides agreed to work with
other ASEAN member countries in building a united and strong ASEAN
Community by 2015 at a time when Malaysia assumes the ASEAN Chair.
Dato Azmil Zabidi expressed his delight at the fine cooperation
between the two countries in an array of areas, noting 2012 as the year
that saw the highest two-way trade figure since 1993 which stood at 9
billion USD, against the level of 7.2 billion USD recorded in the
previous year.
The Malaysian businesses have invested
a total of about 12 billion USD in Vietnam, focusing on oil and
gas, property and production.
The figures show Malaysian confidence in Vietnam’s economic potential, the ambassador said.
Last year, 200,000 Vietnamese visited Malaysia while the number of Malaysian tourists to Vietnam was 300,000.-VNA