Cabinet Chief starts Asian tour

PM Nguyen Tan Dung

He will later tour Singapore wher he will attend the country's 50th anniversary of independence at the invitation of Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong.

Viet Nam and Malaysia established diplomatic ties on March 30, 1973. The friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries have been on the rise. Political cooperation grew robustly at all levels. The two sides regularly exchanged delegations particularly through the lattest meeting between Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak on the sidelines of the 26th ASEAN Summit this April. The two countries concurred to support each other at regional and international forums especially ASEAN and the United Nations.

In economic terms, Malaysia is among Viet Nam’s ten largest trade partners. Two-way trade revenue surged steadily, fetching from US$5.5 billion in 2010 to over US$8 billion in 2014. In the first five months of 2015, trade volume touched nearly US$3.1 billion. Viet Nam chiefly ships crude oil, rice, coffee, aquatic products to Malaysia and imports steel, plastic materials, equipment, computer and electronic products.

Through the Asian tour, PM Dung hoped to cement and deepen the comprehensive cooperation with Singapore and consolidate and strengthen the strategic partnership with Singapore especially in the domain of economics, trade, investment, labor, energy, agriculture, education, science-technology, service, tourism, security and national defence.

Viet Nam and Singapore set up diplomatic ties on August 1, 1973 and then strategic partnership in 2013. The Viet Nam-Singapore strategic partnership has developed practically and fruitfully. The two sides maintained regular contacts and exchanges of delegation.

Viet Nam mainly imports petrol, electronic products, spare parts, telephones from Singapore and exports aquaculture, coffee, pepper, vegetables and fruits to its ASEAN peer.

Singapore’s investment in Viet Nam has been on the rise since 1998. Viet Nam is home to over 1,400 Singapore valid projects worth over US$ 33 billion. Singapore is the third largest investor among 101 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam.