Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – There is very great potential for Vietnam and Malaysia to promote economic cooperation in the post-COVID-19 period, especially in trade and investment, according to an official with the Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and industry (MITI).
In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob’s upcoming official visit to Vietnam on March 20-21, the senior director of the Economic Integration Division MITI’s ASEAN Jamilah Haji Hassan further stated that the bilateral trade turnover is expected to reach $18 billion in 2025.
Malaysia has become ASEAN’s largest exporter in 2021 with a turnover of up to billions of dollars. The country mainly exports items such as electrical and electronic products, chemicals and petroleum to Vietnam.
Malaysia wants to export palm oil products to Vietnam, while possibly importing larger volumes of transport and rice from Vietnam, she said, adding that Vietnamese rice is best quality and most suitable for Malaysia.
Malaysia is also the largest investor in Vietnam in the areas of manufacturing and real estate, noted the official and affirmed that MITI will support the capacity building of Vietnamese companies in the direction of innovation, creativity , applications and development of high technology.
It is willing to create conditions for research institutions from both sides to meet and share experiences; and continue to help Vietnam improve the quality of its labor market by providing modern and appropriate work equipment, she said.
Jamilah expressed his belief that the cooperation will lay the foundation for the development of Vietnam’s high-tech application economy, especially in the manufacturing sector.
Numerous Malaysian companies are very interested in promoting cooperation with Vietnamese companies in the processing of Halal products in the context where both countries have strategies to ensure food security.
Vietnam has been exporting Halal products to the Malaysian market since 2016, with export turnover reaching RM5.32 billion in 2016-2020. Malaysia expects Vietnam to become one of the top 10 halal food exporters to Malaysia in 2022.
The MITI official also suggested that the two sides consider promoting cooperation in electric vehicle manufacturing, revealing that in 2019, MITI’s representative office in Vietnam promoted cooperation with FPT Corporation of Vietnam in electric vehicle manufacturing projects. automation, automatic connection, IoT and robotics and the two parties committed to strengthening their strategic partnership in existing areas and expanding into new areas related to electric and autonomous vehicles.
Vietnam and Malaysia can definitely set higher goals in areas of high-potential cooperation, especially trade, investment and halal food, she said.
Within the framework of ASEAN cooperation, the two sides can also make joint efforts to deploy digital initiatives to be applied to green economic development, digital and sustainable economy in the context of ASEAN accelerating the process of economic recovery and development of the entire region, she said.
