Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse welcomed Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim and his spouse, who are paying an official visit to Vietnam, at a ceremony held in Hanoi on July 20.
The trip on July 20 - 21 is the first official visit to Vietnam by PM Anwar Ibrahim since he took office in December 2022.
Following the welcome ceremony, the two PMs visited an exhibition featuring Vietnam, Malaysia, their people and relations jointly held by the Vietnam News Agency and the Vietnamese Government Office, and then held talks at the Government’s headquarters.
During his stay in Vietnam, the Malaysian PM will also meet with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Vo Van Thuong, and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.
The leaders will review relations over the recent past and outline measures for promoting the strategic partnership.
This year, Vietnam and Malaysia celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties and the 8th anniversary of the strategic partnership.
Actively working together to carry out the action plan for implementing the strategic partnership for 2021 - 2025, the two countries have frequently held high-level mutual visits and meetings and maintained cooperation mechanisms. Both nations have paid attention to and share common stances on many regional and international issues, including the East Sea.
Bilateral trade and investment have been growing continually. Malaysia currently ranks second in ASEAN and 9th in the world among trading partners of Vietnam, which in turn is the third largest ASEAN trading partner of the former. Their trade stood at 14.68 billion USD in 2022, up 17.4% year on year.
Malaysia is the second biggest ASEAN investor and the 10th among 140 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with 702 valid projects worth 13 billion USD.
The cooperation in labour, tourism, and education is also a highlight of their relations. There are about 12,000 legal workers and some 1,000 students of Vietnam in Malaysia. Besides, Malaysia is one of the top 10 sources of foreign tourists to Vietnam, statistics showed./.
