General Secretary To Lam's visit to Malaysia will strongly consolidate the foundation of political relations and add momentum to further promote strategic cooperation between the two countries.

At the invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam and his wife will pay an official visit to Malaysia from November 21-23.

On this occasion, VNA reporters in Kuala Lumpur interviewed Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Dinh Ngoc Linh about the cooperative relationship between the two countries. The following is the content of the interview.

- Could you please tell us about the importance and significance of General Secretary To Lam's visit to Malaysia this time?

Ambassador Dinh Ngoc Linh: General Secretary To Lam's visit is of special significance, a concrete step in implementing the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress when Vietnam is facing a new era, an era of the Vietnamese nation's rise.

This visit to Malaysia not only contributes to promoting solidarity among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) but also demonstrates Vietnam's consistent foreign policy of valuing friendly neighborly relations and strategic partnership with Malaysia.

General Secretary To Lam's visit to Malaysia this time, taking place on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership (2015-2025), will strongly consolidate the foundation of political relations and add more momentum to further promote strategic cooperation between the two countries in all fields to develop more strongly, comprehensively and effectively, and is a new milestone to further deepen the existing good cooperation between the two countries, towards new heights and new levels in Vietnam-Malaysia relations.

The visit is also an opportunity for the two countries' senior leaders to continue sharing the world and regional situation, have in-depth discussions, and identify major directions and measures to promote the development of the two countries' relationship to a new height, more stable, substantial and effective in the coming time.

- Could you share the highlights of the General Secretary's visit this time? How has the Vietnamese Embassy prepared for this important event, Ambassador?

Ambassador Dinh Ngoc Linh: This is the first visit by a General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam to Malaysia in 30 years, so the visit is highly valued by both sides, and is carefully arranged and prepared in terms of both program and content. General Secretary To Lam will have important talks and meetings with the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Senate and other senior leaders of Malaysia.

The two sides will inform each other about the situation in each country, discuss in depth the strengthening and deepening of bilateral relations, including further consolidating political trust, enhancing cooperation in security-defense, economy, trade, investment, labor, tourism, people-to-people exchange, etc., and seek measures to expand cooperation to other potential areas such as digital transformation, digital economy, green economy, high-tech agriculture, Halal cooperation, etc., thereby contributing to creating new momentum for the bilateral relationship to a new height.

In addition, the leaders of the two sides will also share and discuss frankly and confidently regional and international issues of mutual concern, including food security, energy security, the East Sea and maritime economic development cooperation, and agree on major directions to enhance coordination between the two countries at regional and international forums, especially within the framework of ASEAN and in the context of Malaysia holding the role of ASEAN Chair in 2025, contributing to strengthening intra-bloc solidarity and promoting ASEAN's central role.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia determined that participating in the preparation for General Secretary To Lam's official visit to Malaysia is both an honor and a top political task in 2024.

The Embassy is maintaining close and intimate contact with the authorities of both sides to discuss and coordinate the careful development of the program and content of the visit, and together make efforts to contribute to the overall success of the visit.

- In 2025, Malaysia will assume the ASEAN Chairmanship. As a member of ASEAN, how does Vietnam plan to cooperate to support Malaysia's role? Which areas of cooperation in ASEAN do Vietnam prioritize, Ambassador?

Ambassador Dinh Ngoc Linh: In ASEAN, Vietnam and Malaysia are active, proactive, responsible members, participating in the spirit of being ready to contribute more and be more proactive in the common work.

In the coming time, when Malaysia assumes the role of ASEAN Chair 2025, Vietnam will certainly continue to closely coordinate with Malaysia and ASEAN member countries in maintaining and promoting solidarity and ASEAN's central role, ensuring the full and effective implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 as well as related strategies and initiatives to build a harmonious, cohesive, and identity-rich ASEAN community capable of responding to emerging issues in the region and the world.

In recent high-level contacts between the two countries, Vietnamese leaders have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to supporting Malaysia in its role as ASEAN Chair 2025 and in the comprehensive implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, while also hoping that Malaysia will closely coordinate with Vietnam and other countries to maintain ASEAN's common stance on regional and international issues, including the East Sea issue.

- During the visit to Vietnam at the end of October by Malaysian House of Representatives Speaker Tan Sri Dato' Johari Bin Abdul, both sides agreed that the potential for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is still very large. Could the Ambassador tell us what the two sides need to do to continue to bring bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation to new achievements?

Ambassador Dinh Ngoc Linh: It can be affirmed that besides political cooperation, economic-trade and investment cooperation is one of the important pillars and the priority focus for development in the Vietnam-Malaysia Strategic Partnership. Malaysia is currently Vietnam's second largest trading partner in ASEAN and 11th in the world.

In the field of investment, Malaysia is also the second largest ASEAN investor in Vietnam and ranks 11th out of 143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total registered capital of over 13 billion USD.

Looking back over the past 10 years, since the two sides upgraded their relationship to a Strategic Partnership in 2015, bilateral trade turnover has increased from over 8 billion USD (in 2014) to over 14 billion USD in 2022, nearly doubling after upgrading the relationship to a Strategic Partnership. The two sides are striving to bring bilateral trade turnover to 18 billion USD in the coming time.

It can be said that the potential and room for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is still large, the goal of bringing bilateral turnover to 18 billion USD is very feasible. However, in order to bring this cooperation to new achievements, the two sides need to find new directions, including areas where both sides have needs and mutual strengths such as digital economic development and energy connectivity. One of the potential areas that the two sides have been actively cooperating in and need to promote in the coming time is cooperation in the field of Halal.

Malaysian leaders have expressed their desire to cooperate with Vietnam in this field. The cooperation will bring many benefits to Vietnam in building Halal standards for its strong products, thereby easily penetrating the Malaysian market and other major Muslim markets in the world.

- In recent years, local cooperation and people-to-people exchange between the two countries have been constantly developing. According to the Ambassador, how significant is this cooperation in enhancing understanding between the people of the two countries in particular, as well as promoting the Vietnam-Malaysia Strategic Partnership in general?

Ambassador Dinh Ngoc Linh: In recent times, local cooperation activities and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries have been very active, achieving many positive results. Cultural exchange activities are regularly organized by Vietnamese associations in Malaysia to promote Vietnamese culture and cuisine to Malaysian friends, thereby enhancing mutual understanding between the people of the two countries.

Leaders of localities of the two countries also regularly organize visits to each other, thereby contributing to strengthening friendly relations, promoting mutually beneficial cooperation between localities of the two sides, bringing practical benefits to the people of the two countries.

In addition, the close geographical distance and convenient transportation with diverse flight routes connecting Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang with Kuala Lumpur and other localities of Malaysia with a frequency of up to 130 flights/week have contributed to further promoting tourism activities and people-to-people exchanges.

I believe that along with the stable and positive development momentum in bilateral relations, local cooperation and people-to-people exchange will continue to be maintained and become one of the driving forces for the development of bilateral relations.

- Thank you very much, Ambassador!./.