VN, Malaysia celebrate 45 years of diplomatic ties in Kuala Lumpur

The event was attended by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan bin Kassim and Deputy Secretary General for Bilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nushirwan Bin Zainal Abidin from Malaysia alongside Vietnamese expats in Malaysia and business leaders from both countries.

In his remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Le Quy Quynh said he was pleased with significant outcomes the two countries have obtained over the past 45 years in all areas, from politics-diplomacy, security-defence, and economics to education, culture and tourism.

With regard to politics, Vietnam and Malaysia have maintained regular exchange of visits at all levels, he said, mentioning trips to Malaysia by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Do Muoi (1994), President Tran Duc Luong (1998), Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (1998), Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (2007 and 2015). Meanwhile, Malaysian top leaders – King Tuanku Jaafar, King Mizan Zainal Abidin and PM Najib Razak – paid visits to Vietnam in 1995, 2009 and 2014, respectively. The two nations lifted their ties to Strategic Partnership in August, 2015, he added.

Substantial progress has been seen in trade and investment in the last four decades. Malaysia is now Vietnam’s 8th largest trade partner and ranks 7th out of 125 foreign investors in Vietnam. The two-way trade exceeded US$10 billion in 2017 and is expected to hit US$15 billion by 2020 while cooperation in the fields like tourism, education and science-technology are flourishing, the ambassador said.

For their part, Minister Shahidan bin Kassim and Deputy Secretary General for Bilateral Affairs Nushirwan Bin Zainal Abidin highly spoke of what Vietnam and Malaysia have achieved since they set up diplomatic ties 45 years ago. They shared a view that the bilateral ties have benefited not only the two countries but also ASEAN, and there is potential for them to continue to unlock.

They expected that the ties would grow further in the time ahead to benefit their people and to consolidate peace, stability and prosperity regionally and globally.