Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (right) and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim (left) on Thursday witnessed the exchanges of the minutes of the 7th Joint Commission Meeting on Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Việt Nam and Malaysia, signed by the two countries' foreign ministers. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim have agreed to expand cooperation in many economic areas such as the digital, circular, sharing, and green economies.

The agreement was reached in their official talks on Thursday in Hà Nội as the Malaysian leader was on an official visit to Việt Nam as the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1973-2023).

During the talks, PM Chính congratulated Malaysia for having attained the highest GDP growth rate in the past 22 years in 2022, expressing the belief that Malaysia will successfully carry out the "Malaysia Mandani" mission spearheaded by the PM Anwar Ibrahim to become a high-income country with sustainable development.

The Malaysian guest thanked the host for the warm welcome, reiterated his positive impressions towards Việt Nam, as well as its late founding father President Hồ Chí Minh, and the country's past struggle for national independence, while also praising the country's great socio-economic development achievements in recent times, especially in the post-COVID period.

The two PMs expressed satisfaction with the development of bilateral relations in recent years, especially after upgrading to a Strategic Partnership in 2015.

Political and diplomatic relations have been increasingly strengthened through maintaining high-level contacts and exchanges.

An overview of the official talks between Vietnamese and Malaysian Prime Ministers on Thursday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

Malaysia is Việt Nam's second largest trading partner in ASEAN and the ninth largest in the world, and is among the top 10 countries with the largest investment in Việt Nam. Cooperation in areas directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as tourism, labour, education and training, has recovered strongly.

In the future, the two sides agreed to strengthen high-level contacts and exchanges at the Party, State, Government and National Assembly levels, and discussed building a mechanism for regular meetings between the two PMs under flexible forms at multilateral forums. They also discussed the implementation of signed sectoral cooperation mechanisms, striving to bring bilateral trade to US$18 by 2025 in a balanced manner.

Việt Nam and Malaysia also agreed to limit trade barriers and facilitate the import and export of potential goods and goods which are the strengths of both sides, such as agriculture, seafood, electronic components, and building materials; taking advantage of opportunities from regional trade agreements such as RCEP and CPTPP; and expanding cooperation in the digital, circular, green, and sharing economies.

PM Chính stressed Việt Nam's readiness to provide a "stable and long-term supply" of rice to Malaysia, asking the latter to help Việt Nam develop Halal industries and soon sign an agreement in this field.

The Vietnamese and Malaysian government leaders also agreed to strengthen cooperation in defence and security and expedite the signing of relevant documents; exchange views on advancing defence industry cooperation and training; establish cooperation mechanisms between the military forces of the two countries; coordinate in combating terrorism and transnational crimes; and enhance coordination in the fight against terrorist and extremist organisations.

The two sides also emphasised the policies of not allowing any individual or organisation to use the territory of one country to act against the other.

The Vietnamese and Malaysian leaders also stressed the importance of maritime and ocean cooperation and stressed their desire to establish a consultation mechanism on maritime issues, including setting up a hotline to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.

PM Chính requested Malaysia's support in lifting the yellow card warning issued by the European Commission against Việt Nam's seafood industry.

The two PMs also agreed to continue to promote cooperation in other areas, including considering the early signing of new agreements on aviation and tourism cooperation, increasing flight frequency, and promoting cooperation in education, training, labour, agriculture, culture, and sports.

PM Chính thanked and requested Malaysia to continue creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, work, and study stably and long-term in the country.

On multilateral and regional cooperation, both sides highly appreciated the frequent coordination and mutual support of the two countries to run for positions in international organisations and agreed to coordinate with other ASEAN countries to ensure unity and solidarity within ASEAN. They also jointly proposed appropriate initiatives to realise ASEAN's priorities for 2023.

PM Chính has affirmed Việt Nam's support for Malaysia to successfully carry out its role to chair ASEAN in 2025.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to maintain ASEAN's stance on the South China Sea (known in Việt Nam as the East Sea) issue, and to continue to coordinate in the next phase of the Code of Conduct (COC) negotiations, as well as to make positive contributions to a substantive and effective COC consistent with international law, in line with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

After the talks, the two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of two documents between the two countries, including the Minutes of the 7th Meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia.

On the occasion, the Malaysian PM also extended an invitation to PM Chính to visit Malaysia. — VNS