The friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Malaysia will see new development, meeting the two peoples’ interest, for peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region and the world at large.

President of the Vietnam-Malaysia Friendship Association (VMFA) Do Huu Hao and Malaysian Ambassador Dato Azmil Zabidi shared the view at the March 29 ceremony to mark the 40 th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties (March 30).

The event was jointly held by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Malaysian Embassy.

On the plane of politics, the two countries have conducted exchange of high-ranking delegations with the most worthy of note being the visit to Malaysia by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in April 2004 which resulted in the signing of the joint statement on the comprehensive cooperation framework in the 21st century and the state-level visit by President Truong Tan Sang in September 2011.

Malaysian leaders who officially visited Vietnam included Senate President Abdul Hamid Pawanteh in 2007 and 13th King Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah in 2009.

Vietnam and Malaysia have actively supported each other at regional and international forums. The two sides agreed to work with other ASEAN member countries in building a united and strong ASEAN Community by 2015 at a time when Malaysia assumes the ASEAN Chair.

Dato Azmil Zabidi expressed his delight at the fine cooperation between the two countries in an array of areas, noting 2012 as the year that saw the highest two-way trade figure since 1993 which stood at 9 billion USD, against the level of 7.2 billion USD recorded in the previous year.

The Malaysian businesses have invested a total of about 12 billion USD in Vietnam, focusing on oil and gas, property and production.

The figures show Malaysian confidence in Vietnam’s economic potential, the ambassador said.

Last year, 200,000 Vietnamese visited Malaysia while the number of Malaysian tourists to Vietnam was 300,000.-VNA