Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's official visit to Vietnam; emphasized the significance of the visit in the context of the two countries celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1973-2023); congratulated Malaysia on its many outstanding achievements; expressed his belief that Malaysia will successfully implement the "Malaysia Madani" strategy initiated by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, becoming a high-income country with sustainable development.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his wife. Photo: VIET TRUNG

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Photo: VIET TRUNG

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim emphasized that he always keeps good feelings about President Ho Chi Minh, as well as admires Vietnam's past struggle for national independence and liberation; at the same time, highly appreciates the great achievements Vietnam has made in the process of socio-economic recovery and development after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and members of the Vietnamese delegation at the talks. Photo: VIET TRUNG
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and members of the Malaysian delegation at the talks. Photo: VIET TRUNG

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim expressed satisfaction with the development of bilateral relations, especially since the upgrade to a strategic partnership in 2015.

Regarding the direction of cooperation in the coming time, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim agreed to increase the exchange of delegations and contacts at high and all levels through the Party, State, Government and Parliament channels; consider building a mechanism for the two Prime Ministers to meet and exchange regularly or periodically in flexible forms at multilateral forums; promptly promote the implementation of signed specialized cooperation mechanisms; strive to bring bilateral trade turnover to 18 billion USD by 2025 in a balanced direction; limit the application of trade barriers; facilitate the import and export of goods with potential and strengths of both sides such as agricultural and aquatic products, food, electronic components, construction materials; make good use of opportunities from regional trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP); expand cooperation in the fields of digital economy, circular economy, green economy, and sharing economy.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam is ready to provide a stable and long-term source of rice to Malaysia, and asked Malaysia to support Vietnam in developing the Halal industry and soon sign a cooperation document in this field.

View of the meeting. Photo: VIET TRUNG

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of defense and security and promote the signing of relevant documents; discuss promoting cooperation in defense industry and training; establish a cooperation mechanism between the two countries' navies, air forces, and coast guards; coordinate in preventing and combating terrorism and transnational crimes; strengthen coordination in the fight against terrorist and reactionary organizations; and emphasize not allowing any individual or organization to use the territory of one country to fight against the other.

The two sides also stressed the importance of maritime and ocean cooperation; considered the establishment of a consultation mechanism on maritime issues and the establishment of a hotline to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked Malaysia to support Vietnam in removing the European Commission’s (EC) yellow card on Vietnam’s fisheries sector.

The two sides also agreed to continue promoting cooperation in other areas. Accordingly, they will consider soon signing new aviation and tourism cooperation agreements; increasing flight frequency; promoting cooperation in education-training, labor, agriculture, culture and sports. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked and asked Malaysia to continue creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Malaysia to live, work and study stably and long-term in the host country; as well as supporting the Malaysia-Vietnam Friendship Association to operate effectively, contributing to enhancing people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.


Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim witnessed the signing ceremony of documents between the two countries. Photo: VIET TRUNG

Discussing multilateral and regional cooperation, the two sides appreciated the two countries' regular coordination and mutual support in running for international organizations; agreed to coordinate with other ASEAN countries to ensure solidarity and unity within ASEAN; and jointly propose appropriate initiatives to realize ASEAN's priorities in 2023. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed his support for Malaysia to successfully assume the role of ASEAN Chair in 2025.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to maintain ASEAN's common stance on the East Sea issue; continue to coordinate in the next phase of negotiations for the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC); and actively contribute to ensuring the building of a substantive, effective COC in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

At the end of the talks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim witnessed the signing of two documents between the two countries, including: Minutes of the 7th Meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation; Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia.

HOANG VU

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