Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Le Quy Quynh and Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan bin Kassim (Photo: VNA)
Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Le Quy Quynh expressed his pleasure before the great achievements the two countries have gained during the past 45 years in all fields of politics, diplomacy, national defence, economy, education, culture and tourism.
The two sides often exchanged high-ranking delegations, including visits of former leaders of the two sides over periods such as visits to Malaysia by General Secretary Do Muoi in 1994, State President Tran Duc Luong in 1998, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in 1998, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2007 and 2015; and visits to Vietnam by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1992, 1996 and 1998, King Tuanku Jaafar in 1995, King Mizan Zainal Abidin in 2009, and Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2014. The two sides agreed to raise the relationship to strategic partnership in August 2015.
In the field of trade and investment, the two sides have had great developments. Malaysia is the 8th largest trade partner of Vietnam and ranks 7th among 125 countries and territories investing directly in Vietnam. The bilateral trade revenue in 2017 reached over USD10 billion, surpassing the target set by the two sides.
The two countries are making efforts to take the figure to USD15 billion in 2020. Besides, other fields such as tourism, education, science and technology cooperation are developing quickly.
Malaysian representatives highly appreciated the achievements the two sides have gained over the past 45 years. They said that the relationship between Malaysia and Vietnam has brought benefit not only for the two countries, but also for ASEAN. The two sides have a lot of potential to further develop cooperation in all fields.
The Malaysian side believed that the relationship between the two countries would continue to develop further in the coming time, contributing to strengthening peace, sustainability and prosperity in the region and in the world.
To welcome the important event, the overseas Vietnamese in Malaysia and local people performed an art program in Vietnamese and Malaysia to tighten the friendship cooperation between the two sides./.