Sharing a common vision, moving towards new horizon of development

Viet Nam and Malaysia have made significant strides shortly after announcing the establishment of their comprehensive strategic partnership in November 2024.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse conclude their official visit to Malaysia and attendance at the 46th ASEAN Summit. (Photo: VNA)
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse conclude their official visit to Malaysia and attendance at the 46th ASEAN Summit. (Photo: VNA)

The relationship between the two close neighbouring countries has been increasingly consolidated and strengthened, becoming a model of cooperation within ASEAN: solid in politics, strong in economy, profound in culture, broad in vision; sharing the same goals of independence, sovereignty, and a prosperous and happy future for their peoples. The strong bond between the two countries contributes significantly to the story of Southeast Asia as a region of “peace and cooperation, solidarity and resilience, inclusiveness and prosperity” in the 21st century.

These are the strong messages conveyed during the official visit to Malaysia and participation in the 46th ASEAN Summit and related high-level meetings by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his spouse, and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation. This event took place in the context of ASEAN increasingly affirming its role as a dynamic development engine and central force, with its community becoming more united, resilient, proactive, inclusive, and sustainable, one of the key locomotives leading the world towards “new horizons of development”.

Viet Nam always in Malaysia's heart

This was the first visit by a top Vietnamese leader since the two countries elevated their bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership during the official visit to Malaysia by General Secretary To Lam in November 2024. Malaysia warmly and sincerely welcomed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese delegation.

During the official talks held in a very friendly, cordial atmosphere of mutual understanding, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reached high consensus on many important matters such as maintaining, upgrading, and effectively promoting existing mechanisms; and expressing determination to raise two-way trade turnover to 20 billion USD in the next one to two years in a balanced and sustainable manner. The two sides agreed to enhance exchanges, consultations, sharing of experiences, and expand cooperation in new fields such as digital economy, green economy, science and technology, and innovation; bolster defence and security cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region and the world; and promote cooperation in education and training, cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

In particular, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that Viet Nam has great potential and favourable conditions to develop the Halal food industry, but noted it needs Malaysia’s support in the promotion of cooperation with Gulf countries in this area. The Prime Minister emphasised that this visit sent a strong message of the two countries’ determination to cooperate and develop in a self-reliant and sustainable manner, making positive contributions to regional peace, stability, and development.

At the press conference following the talks, reporters witnessed the warmth between the two Prime Ministers, akin to family members. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim highlighted that Viet Nam holds a special place in Malaysia’s heart, noting that the country had closely followed the valiant struggle of the Vietnamese people against colonialism and imperialism to achieve national independence and reunification under the leadership of President Ho Chi Minh. In his youth, he had gathered a group of intellectuals in Malaysia along with friends from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore to support Viet Nam. He himself has a deep understanding of Viet Nam’s history and has thoroughly studied books on Viet Nam’s people’s war.

Emphasising that Viet Nam is a very close friend of Malaysia, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim noted that Viet Nam is experiencing “historic strides in its economy”, adding that Malaysia’s younger generation greatly admires how Viet Nam, once devastated by war, has made remarkable development progress within just a few decades and sees Viet Nam as a valuable source of lessons.

He especially appreciated the agreement on power grid cooperation, in which the project to build an underground power transmission cable from Viet Nam to Malaysia will stand as a testament to ASEAN’s success and the cooperation between the two countries, realising specific cooperation programmes aligned with regional energy transition and renewable energy development policies. The atmosphere of the press conference became lively when Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, unable to hide his excitement, expressed his anticipation for the crucial football match on June 10 in Kuala Lumpur between the Vietnamese and Malaysian national teams as part of the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers. He was also looking forward to the friendly match between ASEAN All Stars and Manchester United to be held in Kuala Lumpur on May 28.

For his part, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed sincere thanks for the warm, heartfelt reception by the Malaysian Government and people, which deeply moved him and his delegation, giving them the feeling of “being at home”. He assessed that the two sides have held highly successful talks in all aspects, covering comprehensive and substantive issues; while also sharing, better understanding each other, and showing stronger determination to elevate bilateral relations to new heights in line with both sides’ aspirations and corresponding to their differing potentials, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages. According to the Vietnamese Prime Minister, the two countries have sent clear messages of trust, strategy, political will, and implementation capacity to turn agreements and messages into concrete actions, resulting in measurable, tangible outcomes.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also took time to meet with leading Malaysian corporations and businesses operating in Viet Nam such as Gamuda Land, Capital A, Grab, and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Malaysia. These businesses, active in real estate, aviation, logistics, transportation, etc., highly valued Viet Nam’s investment and business environment as well as its high economic growth prospects in the coming years. They expressed hope that the Vietnamese Government, ministries, and local authorities would continue to address difficulties and facilitate greater investment to help realise the high-level agreements between the two sides.

Before departing for home, the Vietnamese Prime Minister visited and delivered an important policy speech at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), which was highly appreciated by the public and scholars in Malaysia. Regarding cooperation in education, science and technology, and digital transformation between Viet Nam and Malaysia, the Vietnamese Prime Minister stated that the two countries are dynamic developing economies in Southeast Asia, sharing a vision of sustainable development based on knowledge, technology, and innovation. Cooperation in human resource development and emerging sectors of science, technology, and innovation and digital transformation is one of the four main pillars to be strongly promoted, aiming to realise the shared vision of Viet Nam and Malaysia.

In terms of science-technology and digital transformation cooperation, the Prime Minister proposed five “enhancements”: enhancing information and data sharing; promoting linkages between high-tech zones, innovation centres, and startup incubators; enhancing joint research programmes, prioritising green transition, circular economy, smart cities, high-tech agriculture, digital medicine, and data security; improving digital infrastructure development, especially network infrastructure; and sharing experiences in developing digital government and online public services. He noted that cooperation should not only be promoted bilaterally but also regionally within ASEAN in this field.

Turning vision into reality, rising to lead

At the plenary session, supporting the summit’s theme of “Inclusive and Sustainable”, the Prime Minister emphasised ASEAN’s strong promotion of the “Five Mores”: greater unity to build collective strength; greater resilience to hold its own destiny; greater proactiveness to shape the game; greater inclusiveness so ASEAN remains a common home for all members; and greater sustainability for future generations. Together with other ASEAN leaders, the Prime Minister agreed to adopt the important document “ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future”, which includes the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 and strategic directions on political-security, economic, socio-cultural, and connectivity, laying the strategic foundation for cooperation and integration in the coming decades.

The Prime Minister expressed confidence that with shared trust and common vision, ASEAN will overcome all fluctuations and advance steadily. Viet Nam is committed to continuing as a responsible, positive, and proactive member, ready to work with ASEAN to build a community that is “more united, more resilient, more proactive, more inclusive, and more sustainable”. He stressed the importance of ASEAN continuing to promote its connectivity role and expand linkages beyond the region, diversifying products, markets, and supply chains; and leveraging cooperation models such as ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and ASEAN-GCC-China.

At the ASEAN Youth Dialogue, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on ASEAN governments to join hands in building an ASEAN ecosystem with youth at its centre, as its subjects and drivers of development, with a focus on building an open, liberal education system and supporting youth breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn stated that he highly appreciated the messages delivered by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the summit, highlighting his new, very good, practical and noteworthy ideas. He also affirmed that Viet Nam has always been consistent in contributing positively and effectively supporting Malaysia in fulfilling its role as ASEAN Chair and ASEAN’s centrality. Leaders highly appreciated Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s participation, which contributed significantly to the success of the summit. His initiatives and proposals were practical, “spot on and well targeted”, and breakthrough. Viet Nam is a strongly emerging and prestigious partner that has offered development and cooperation directions with ASEAN and partners such as China and GCC that align well with ASEAN’s 2045 Vision, contributing not only to peace, stability, and development but also to strengthening multilateral cooperation and promoting regional trade, supply chains, and production chains.

Marking 30 years of ASEAN membership, Viet Nam has become a proactive, positive, and responsible member, contributing to building ASEAN into a common community centred on the people. Viet Nam has made many contributions to ASEAN’s economic dynamism and attractiveness, as well as to ensuring regional peace and security. Together with Malaysia and other ASEAN countries, Viet Nam is striving in solidarity to realise the common goals and vision of the community amid an unpredictable global context.

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