PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia and Vietnam have committed to increasing bilateral trade to US$15bil (RM58.8bil) by 2020 and boosting ties in various sectors.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia was currently the eighth largest investor in Vietnam.
The level was expected to reach somewhere around US$10bil (RM39.2bil) this year, he said.
“It is our aspiration that we redouble our efforts to achieve a total of trade of about US$15bil by 2020.
“Our businessmen and corporations are keen to look into new opportunities to increase their investments in Vietnam,” Najib said at a joint press conference at Perdana Putra with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who is on an official visit.
Najib said nearly 50% of Malaysia’s investments in Vietnam were from Petronas ventures in the country.
Earlier, he witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Petronas and PetroVietnam for the exploration of petroleum.
On defence and security matters, Najib said Vietnam had agreed to give close cooperation, particularly to combat human trafficking and intrusion into the country’s waters.
He said this would include enhanced patrolling between the two military sides and the establishment of “hotlines” between the two countries.
“We also thank the Vietnamese government for its intervention in apprehending the pirates involved in the hijacking of our freighter MT Orkim Harmony,” he said.
Najib and Tan Dung signed a joint statement on “framework for strategic partnership” between the governments of Malaysia and Vietnam.
They witnessed the signing of an MoU between the governments on employment, which Najib said would ensure the rights of some 60,000 Vietnamese workers in Malaysia be protected.
Najib had also spoken to Tan Dung about Malaysia’s keenness on domestic workers from Vietnam, which he said was “subject to further negotiations between the relevant ministries”.
They also witnessed the presentation of a full banking licence and the approval-in-principle to CIMB Bank by the State Bank of Vietnam.
Tan Dung’s two-day official visit is his third since his appointment as prime minister in 2006.
He told the press conference that Vietnam “highly values” Malaysia’s contribution as the 2015 Asean chairman and the non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.