Assistant to the Foreign Minister Phạm Quang Hiệu. — Photo baoquocte.vn

HÀ NỘI — The second Việt Nam-Malaysia Senior Officials’ Strategic Dialogue took place virtually on Wednesday under the chair of Assistant to the Foreign Minister Phạm Quang Hiệu and Deputy Secretary General at the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Amran Bin Mohamed Zin.

The Malaysian official praised Việt Nam’s success in COVID-19 prevention and control, socio-economic development, and external relations.

Stressing that Việt Nam is the only strategic partner of Malaysia in Southeast Asia, he affirmed that Malaysia always attaches importance to and wants to foster its cooperation with Việt Nam so that the relations will be more extensive and effective.

Hiệu expressed his belief that Malaysia will soon overcome the pandemic and recover its economy.

He said Việt Nam will continue creating favourable conditions for Malaysian investors, experts, managers, and skilled workers to enter Việt Nam in line with health and pandemic control requirements.

The officials noted the robust growth of the Việt Nam – Malaysia strategic partnership in the past and discussed specific collaboration orientations across fields to implement outcomes of a meeting between the two Prime Ministers on the sidelines of the recent ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in Indonesia.

The two sides pledged to work closely to hold high-level and all-level delegation exchanges when conditions allow and to soon implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as joint committee and joint trade committee.

The officials noted they will also speed up the building of an action programme on implementing the nations’ strategic partnership for 2021 – 2025 so that the document can be approved by the 6th meeting of the countries’ joint committee for cooperating in economy and science-technology. The meeting is scheduled to take place in the last half of this year.

Regarding the East Sea issue, they emphasised the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, and maritime and aviation safety in the waters; resolving disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); and facilitating the negotiation on a practical and effective Code of Conduct in the waters (COC). — VNS