Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak have affirmed a commitment to develop bilateral relations, meeting the aspirations of the two peoples.

The two leaders met in the administrative capital of Putrajaya on Sept. 28 after a ceremony to welcome President Sang, who is on a state visit to Malaysia from Sept. 28-30 at the invitation of King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Billah Shah.

President Sang spoke highly of Malaysia ’s position as one of Vietnam ’s leading trade and investment partners, with two-way trade of 5.5 billion USD in 2010 and about 390 projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 19 billion USD.

The two sides agreed that based on the fine political and economic relations, the two countries have many opportunities to continue promoting cooperation in various areas such as security, defence, labour, education and training, culture, sports, tourism.

President Sang asked Malaysia to increase its import of Vietnamese goods, helping to balance two-way trade soon.

He also urged both sides to conduct regular exchange of delegations at all levels, along with people-to-people exchanges, to build mutual understanding and trust, enhance cooperation in fighting transnational crime and engage in joint maritime patrols.

On this basis, the two sides agreed to accelerate talks and promptly sign several agreements to create a legal basis to promote cooperation, such as a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in transnational crime control, an agreement on establishment of joint maritime patrols and a communication channel between the two navies, a framework agreement on rice trading and an agreement on agriculture.

The two sides discussed regional issues of common concern, agreed to join other ASEAN countries’ efforts to speed up the process of building an ASEAN Community by 2015 and increase the key role of the group, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.

Regarding the East Sea issues, the two sides stressed the importance of peace, stability, security and safety in the East Sea, saying that concerned parties need to obey the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and strictly implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and work toward building the Code of Conduct (COC).

President Sang thanked Malaysia for its support for Vietnam to fulfil its role as ASEAN Chair in 2010.

Later that day, the King and Queen of Malaysia hosted a banquet for President Sang, his wife and entourage./.