3rd Vietnam - Malaysia Senior Officials Strategic Dialogue

Đối thoại chiến lược quan chức cấp cao Việt Nam – Malaysia lần 3

Party Central Committee member, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong and Deputy Secretary General of the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dato' Ahmad Rozian Abd Ghani co-chaired the 3rd Vietnam - Malaysia Senior Officials' Strategic Dialogue. (Photo: Quang Hoa)

Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong highly appreciated the fact that the meeting was held after the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership during the historic visit of General Secretary To Lam and his wife to Malaysia (November 2024), demonstrating the activeness of the two Foreign Ministries in implementing the comprehensive strategic partnership as well as the agreements between the two countries' senior leaders.

In particular, the meeting is even more meaningful as it is held at a time when the two countries are celebrating major holidays: the 68th anniversary of Malaysia's National Day, the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and Vietnam's National Day on September 2.

At the meeting, the two sides focused on reviewing bilateral relations and proposing directions for implementing the Vietnam-Malaysia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on the basis of agreements between the two countries' senior leaders in key areas.

The two sides were pleased to note that, on the basis of implementing the Action Program for the 2021-2025 period, especially with the upgrading of bilateral relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, cooperation between the two countries in recent times has become increasingly extensive and effective in all fields of politics , economics - trade - investment, defense - security, labor, culture, education, tourism, people-to-people exchange, etc.

Deputy Secretary General Dato' Ahmad Rozian Abd Ghani assessed that economic - trade - investment cooperation between the two countries continues to be a bright spot in recent years with Malaysia maintaining its position as Vietnam's third largest trading partner in ASEAN and ninth in the world, among the top 10 countries with the largest investments in Vietnam. Two-way trade turnover has increased steadily over the years, very close to the target of 18 billion USD in a more balanced direction.

Regarding the direction of cooperation in the coming time, the two sides affirmed to closely coordinate and soon officially approve the Action Program to implement the Vietnam - Malaysia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the period 2026-2030; promote new fields where the two sides have complementary characteristics such as cooperation in digital transformation, innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), technology, agriculture and Halal, energy cooperation, power transmission, and soon sign cooperation documents in these fields to create a legal basis for implementing cooperation activities.

At the meeting, the two sides focused on reviewing bilateral relations and proposing directions for implementing the Vietnam-Malaysia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. (Photo: Quang Hoa)

Discussing the international and regional situation, the two sides agreed that in the context of the rapidly changing international and regional strategic environment, with many potential risks creating many challenges, countries in the region need to enhance their strategic autonomy, diversify partnerships, promote sustainable economic recovery and green growth, and on the other hand, strengthen coordination to enhance the role of multilateral mechanisms and institutions; in which ASEAN needs to continue to promote its leading role, promote the bloc's self-reliance and play ASEAN's central role in the regional structure.

The two sides shared their assessments and determination to build the East Sea into a sea of peace, cooperation and development; together with ASEAN countries, seriously, fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), contributing to creating a favorable environment for negotiations on an effective and substantive Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC); and continue to support each other's candidacy at multilateral mechanisms, especially at the United Nations.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong suggested that Malaysia, in its role as ASEAN Chair 2025 and coordinator of the ASEAN-China dialogue partnership for the 2024-2027 period, continue to demonstrate its strong commitment and take the lead in promoting respect for and compliance with international law, especially the 1982 UNCLOS, and make positive, constructive, and responsible contributions to the COC negotiation process.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/doi-thoai-chien-luoc-quan-chuc-cap-cao-viet-nam-malaysia-lan-3-325935.html