Vietnam and Malaysia hold senior officials’ strategic dialogue

PANO – To implement the Joint Statement on the Vietnam-Malaysia Strategic Partnership, Vietnamese Assistant to Foreign Minister Vu Quang Minh and Malaysian Deputy Foreign Secretary Dato’Muhammad Shahrullkram Yaakob co-chaired the first Vietnam-Malaysia Senior Officials’ Strategic Dialogue in Hanoi on April 4^th.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (L) and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak at the signing ceremony for a joint statement on the Vietnam-Malaysia strategic partnership framework in 2015. (Source: VNA)

At the dialogue, the two sides acknowledged the continuing development of their bilateral friendship and relations, highlighting the upgrade of the Vietnam-Malaysia relationship to the strategic partnership in the official visit to Malaysia of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in August 2015.

The two sides then discussed measures to boost the strategic partnership in the future, including increasing delegation exchanges and meetings between senior officials, the signing of the Action Plan for the period of 2016-2018, and the effective implementation of the bilateral cooperation.

In the near future, the sides are to hold the 5^th session of the Vietnam-Malaysia Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in Economics, Science and Technology in 2016, increase the two-way trade to USD 15 billion by 2020, and will implement the agreement on fighting transnational crime signed in October 2015.

The two sides also agreed to work on the establishment of a new senior defense official dialogue and to sign a number of memoranda of understanding on such areas as labor, aviation, culture, sports and tourism.

The Vietnamese official expressed gratitude and acknowledged Malaysia’s cooperation in dealing with issues concerning fishermen and support for the Vietnamese community in the country.

The two officials also stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of aviation in the East Sea (South China Sea) in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982.

Closing the session, the guest thanked the host for a warm reception, and both sides agreed to meet in Malaysia in 2017.