Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali is accompanying his Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on an official visit to Vietnam from March 20 – 22.
The minister said the global Halal market is growing robustly, with its total value reaching around 2.44 trillion USD in 2018. Some 56 percent of the figure – or over 1.36 trillion USD – comes from food and beverages, which is expected to expand 6.3 percent annually to exceed 1.97 trillion VND by 2024, he added.
Malaysian enterprises stand ready to share experience and expertise to help those from Vietnam gain broader access to Halal certification, the official stressed.
He further said that since Vietnam expects to welcome many foreign visitors who consume Halal-certified products during the upcoming SEA Games 31, the event will be an opportunity for the two countries to together build a Halal ecosystem matching both sides’ potentials.
During the meeting, the two ministers also discussed the Vietnam-Malaysia joint committee for trade, deemed as an effective cooperation mechanism. As a result of COVID-19 impacts, it had to cancel routine meetings, so Minister Dien, as its co-chairman, proposed the two sides promptly prepare for its official meeting by finalising the programme and pushing for technical meetings.
The Malaysia minister also said he hopes the committee’s annual meeting to be held as soon as possible and suggested the two countries to look into ways to narrow Malaysia’s trade deficit with Vietnam.
Malaysia is currently Vietnam’s second largest trade partner in ASEAN and ninth globally. Meanwhile, Vietnam is Malaysia’s third biggest trade partner.
Data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that the two-way trade hit 12.5 billion USD last year, up 25.3 percent compared to 2020.
Vietnam mostly ships to Malaysia phones and parts, crude oil, rice, coffee and seafood and mainly imports computers and electronics, machinery, oil and gas, household appliances and chemicals.
In the first two months of 2022, the bilateral trade neared 2.2 billion USD, up 20 percent year-on-year.
Malaysia now operates 668 FDI projects, worth 13 billion USD, in Vietnam, making it Vietnam’s second largest investor in ASEAN after Singapore and tenth of the 140 countries and territories all over the world.
