Malaysia wants to raise bilateral trade with Vietnam to 18 billion USD by 2025 hinh anh 1Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) is promoting business cooperation between Malaysia and Vietnam to achieve 76 billion RM (18 billion USD) in bilateral trade by 2025, Malaysian news agency Bernama has reported.

MATRADE Director of ASEAN and Oceania Raja Badrulnizam Raja Kamalzaman said despite struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and trade dispute between the world’s economic powerhouses, Vietnam managed to record a GDP growth of 2.9 percent last year.

"It was one of the few countries that recorded positive growth amid the COVID-19 situation in 2020," he said in a recent statement.

Vietnam, which has more than 96 million people, of whom 65 percent are aged 35 years old and below, is currently experiencing a growing middle-income group and with business-friendly policies in attracting investments in the industrial sector, making it a popular destination for trade and business in ASEAN.

From November 23 – 25, MATRADE led a group of 17 Malaysian companies to explore strategic business collaboration between Malaysia and local enterprises in the exciting and rapidly growing Vietnamese market, through the Virtual Export Acceleration Mission (EAM) to Vietnam.

The mission included companies operating in the fields of machinery, parts and components, cosmetics and personal care products as well as food and beverages, aimed at tapping into the growing demand in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and surrounding provinces.

"Apart from providing a platform for Malaysian companies to expand their brands’ footprint in Vietnam, this EAM also hopes to open up opportunities for Vietnamese companies to explore partnerships amid uncertainty in the business environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic," it said.

Through this mission, 142 online one-to-one business meeting sessions were arranged with 46 Vietnamese companies, which generated contracts worth 62.67 million RM, it added.

Apart from the series of meetings, an online briefing session through a webinar was organised last week in collaboration with the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC) and the Malaysian Business Chamber of Vietnam (MBC) to share market updates and business aspects in Vietnam, it noted./.
VNA