Vietnam and Malaysia are celebrating the 40th anniversary of official diplomatic relations in 2013. With 13 signed cooperation agreements on trade, investment, science, technology, telecommunications, sports and other fields, the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries has progressed tremendously.
Important milestones
The first meeting of the Joint Trade Committee between the ministries of economy took place on November 12, 2009 on the sidelines of the 21st APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM 21) in Singapore, marking an important milestone in the bilateral trade relations. This meeting became a periodic activity aimed at assessing the bilateral trade performance, proposing practical measures, further accelerating the development of bilateral relations, and building mechanisms for multifaceted cooperation, not limited to only trade but also including investment, industry and agriculture.
To continue those tremendous achievements, the second joint meeting, held on the sideline of the 19th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting (March 6 - 9, 2013) in Hanoi, delved into trade promotion and contents related to the formation of a mechanism for government-level exchange, information sharing and investigation coordination of commercial antidumping of enterprises of the two countries, in order to quickly remove difficulties and guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of both sides. The two countries also agreed to facilitate cooperation in trade, investment, industry, agriculture and other areas, and to further tap their economic and trade potentials to bring the economic, commercial and investment ties between Vietnam and Malaysia to a new high.
Robust progress in trade - investment relations
Vietnam is the fifth largest trade partner of Malaysia in ASEAN, while Malaysia is the third largest trade partner of Vietnam in the bloc.
Mr Vu Huy Hoang, Minister of Industry and Trade, after the first Joint Committee Meeting, the Vietnam - Malaysia bilateral trade has achieved positive results. The total two-way trade turnover in the 2009 - 2012 period annually expanded 24 per cent on average, increasing from US$4.1 billion in 2009 to US$7.9 billion in 2012. In particular, Vietnam's exports to Malaysia totalled approximately US$4.5 billion, up 56 per cent over 2011, while its imports from Malaysia valued at US$3.4 billion, down 13 per cent. 2012 marked an important milestone in Vietnam trade with Malaysia with its first surplus after 10 years, valued at nearly US$1.1 billion.
Notably, in recent years, a lot of bilateral trade cooperation contents have been carried out very effectively, like import and export cooperation, and cooperation in negotiation, signing and formation of free trade areas between ASEAN and its partners. Currently, Vietnam and Malaysia are working together in the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) negotiations.
On investment, as of the end of 2012, Malaysia was the fifth largest investor out of 92 countries and territories with investment in Vietnam and ranked second among Southeast Asian nations, with a total of 428 projects worth over US$10.1 billion.
Vietnam has many industrial investment projects in Malaysia and vice versa. These projects are mainly involved in industry, energy, electricity production, oil and gas cooperation, and construction of commercial centres and hotels. They have contributed to promoting investment and trade between Vietnam and Malaysia.
Notably, at the recent second joint meeting, Vietnam and Malaysia committed to further promoting trade to increase and balance the bilateral turnover. The two sides also agreed to continue discussions to move towards the conclusion of rice cooperation agreement, expected to take place in the second quarter of 2013.
In addition, the two sides agreed to consider talks to conclude the agriculture and fishery agreement discussed by the Vietnamese and Malaysian Prime Ministers in April 2010 when Vietnam hosted the 16th ASEAN Summit. Currently, relevant agencies of the two countries are strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture and fisheries.
In industry, the two sides pledged to provide favourable conditions for their businesses to make more investment, especially in the processing industry, oil and gas, and energy.
Minister Vu Huy Hoang said that providing information about trade, economy and trade remedies taken, if any, in order to help the counterpart to make preparations and coordinate to seek solutions is essential to enhancing the effective two-way cooperation.
Vietnam and Malaysia have decided to set up working groups tasked to review trade liberalisation-related issues, and propose solutions to emerging problems against trade, industrial and investment relations. Then, they will report to relevant authorities of the two countries to have rapid remedies to facilitate investment, trading and mutual support in third countries.
Quynh Chi
Vietnamese
