Việt Nam and Malaysia have agreed to increase visits at all levels and through all channels alongside boosting people-to-people exchanges to advance the their bilateral strategic partnership. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Nhương

KUALA LUMPUR – Việt Nam and Malaysia have agreed to increase visits at all levels and through all channels alongside boosting people-to-people exchanges to advance the their bilateral strategic partnership.

The consensus was reached during Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình’s July 11-13 visit to Malaysia at the invitation of his Malaysian counterpart Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Bình met yesterday with Senate President Sanasee Vigneswaran and held talks with his Malaysian counterpart Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He also met with UMNO Secretary-General Tengku Adnan bin Tengku Mansor, and hosted receptions for President of the Court of Appeal Raus bin Sharif, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi bin Ali and Minister in charge of the National Security Council Shahidan bin Kassim.

At these meetings, the two sides agreed to foster co-operation in national defence and justice. They said the first meeting of the high-level committee on defence cooperation at ministerial level would be organised early.

Stepping up ties between their military forces, the two sides agreed to set up a new working group on naval co-operation while expanding collaboration in fighting crime, especially organised, cross-border and high-tech crimes, and human trafficking.

They will negotiate and sign a memorandum of understanding on legal co-operation and a range of agreements on fighting human trafficking, extradition, the transfer of convicted persons and legal assistance.

The Malaysian side responded positively to Việt Nam’s proposals on improving efficiency of co-operation in the oil and gas sector, and negotiate soon an agreement on fisheries cooperation and another on aviation services.

They saw eye to eye on the need to facilitate investments by businesses from both countries, particularly in rice trading, food processing, agricultural production and processing for export, and support industry development.

Malaysian officials said they would consider receiving more Vietnamese labourers and pledged to support Vietnamese citizens already working and living in Malaysia.

Deputy PM Bình said he appreciated Malaysian agencies’ efforts on dealing with the issue of Vietnamese fishermen in a humanitarian spirit and requested that the death penalty for a number of Vietnamese prisoners in the host country be commuted.

The Malaysian officials pledged to ensure the legitimate rights and a fair trial for Đoàn Thị Hương, a Vietnamese suspect in the death of a citizen of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in Malaysia.

The two sides committed to tighten coordination in building and developing the ASEAN Community and consolidating the group’s unity and central role in the region.

They also affirmed the significance of peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, and stressed the need to settle disputes by peaceful measures on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

They also said all parties should act with respect for legal and diplomatic processes; not use or threaten to use force; fully abide by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC); accelerate the building of a framework of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) towards its early formation and application.

Deputy PM Bình is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Najib Razak and receive representatives of some leading Malaysian companies today.—VNS