Hanoi (VNA) –ꦇ Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with visitingMalaysian PM Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob in Hanoi on March 21.

This is thefirst official visit to Vietnam by PM Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob since he took officein August 2021. During thetalks, the Vietnamese PM affirmed the significance of the Malaysian PM's visit, which he said will create a new momentum for theVietnam-Malaysia cooperation, especially after seven years of the strategicpartnership and towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties (1973-2023). He congratulatedMalaysia for rising to the 25th place in the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2021,believing that the country will continue to post growth and improve its globalcompetitiveness. PM Chinhinformed his guest on Vietnam’s major achievements after 35 years of ‘Doi moi’(Renewal), and underlined that generations of Vietnamese leaders, recently under the leadership ofParty General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, have step by step complete the theory on socialism building and the path towards socialism in Vietnam, based on the cornerstone ideology of making the people the centre, the subjective, the driving force and the target of development towards equality and social progress. HailingVietnam’s accomplishments in the recent past, Malaysian PM Ismail Sabri Yaakob highlyvalued the role of the Vietnamese Party and State in leading the country in safely adapting to and effectively bringing COVID-19 undercontrol while fostering socio-economic recovery and development, thus raising thecountry’s role and position in the region and the world. He affirmed that Malaysia always gives high priority to further bolstering cooperationwith Vietnam – the country’s sole strategic partner in Southeast Asia. The twoleaders affirmed their consensus on orientations to promotethe bilateral cooperation across all fields for socio-economic recovery and developmentin the post-pandemic period, including increasing the exchange of high-ranking delegations and at alllevels, optimising bilateral cooperation mechanism, particularlythe Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation; well implementing the action programme for the strategic partnership during the 2021-25; and steppingup people-to-people exchanges and holding activities marking the 50th foundinganniversary of diplomatic ties next year. The leadersshared the view that economic, trade and investment cooperation has been abright spot in the bilateral ties, and the two countries hold substantialpotential to advance their partnership in those fields. They agreedto work to raise two-way trade to 18 billion USD or even higher by 2025, andstep up the trading of goods of their strength such as agricultural andaquatic products, Halal products and electronic components. The twosides will also study the building of a mechanism on information sharing regardingtrade remedies. The Malaysian PM pledged that Malaysia stands ready to help Vietnam expand and develop theHalal industry. PM Chinhsuggested Malaysian firms step up investment in support industries,high-quality infrastructure, innovation, high-tech and IT application indigital transformation in Vietnam. The two PMsheld that cooperation in national defence and security has brought aboutpragmatic results, and consented to push for the early signing of a memorandumof understanding on bilateral defence collaboration, and enhance cyber security and maritime cooperation. They alsocompared notes on measures to boost partnerships in other areas like foodsecurity, labour, education, justice, science-technology, culture, sports andtourism. Bothwelcomed the mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccine passports, which will facilitate the travelling of the two countries’ people, especially when Vietnam fully opened its doors to international visitors from March 15,and Malaysia will open its borders from April 1. Regardingregional and international issues of shared concern, the leaders highly valuedthe close cooperation between Vietnam and Malaysia at regional andinternational forums, and concurred to join efforts to build a united ASEAN andpromote the bloc’s centrality in addressing emerging regional issues. For theEast Sea issue, they agreed to intensify coordination in information and stance with ASEAN, and called on related sides to exercise restraint, neither useforce nor threaten to use force, and observe international law, including theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The PMsemphasised the importance of fully and effectively implementing theDeclaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), maintaining andpromoting a conducive environment for negotiations of the Code of Conduct(COC) in the East Sea (COC) to reach a substantive and effective document, inaccordance with international law,  includingthe UNCLOS 1982. Followingtheir talks, the PMs witnessed the exchange of a number of cooperationdocuments, including an MoU on recruitment, employmentand repatriation of labourers, and another on legal cooperation between theVietnamese and Malaysian governments, along with a cooperation agreementbetween the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and Malaysian National News Agency(Bernama), and a letter of intent on cooperation between the two DiplomaticAcademies of the two Foreign Ministries./.