Part 1: Malaysia and Vietnam have agreed to strengthen their relations in renewable energy and other areas, as leaders of the two Southeast Asian nations met Thursday in Malaysia. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, To Lam, is on a three-day official visit to Malaysia from Thursday to Saturday, his first visit to Malaysia since assuming office in August. This holds significant positive implications for bilateral ties and regional development. A Joint Statement containing the areas to be covered for further cooperation in the coming period was issued. It observed that since 2015 the two countries signed a Strategic Partnership, the cooperation between them strengthened considerably. The two countries have strong historical, cultural, and people-to-people links.  The Vietnam-Malaysia CSP has three-fold significance. First, bilaterally this reflects the elevation of ties to the highest level. Lam outlined four main pillars of the CSP: enhancing trust and cooperation in politics, defence, and security to establish a solid foundation for their relationship and ensuring a peaceful, stable regional environment for development. In the economic sphere, the two sides decided to push up the bilateral trade to $18 billion. In 2023, Vietnam ranked as Malaysia’s 11th largest trading partner globally and the 4th largest partner in ASEAN. Two MoUs were also signed: one on the enhancement of trade and the second on the renewable energy cooperation. Both countries agreed to help each other in the fields of industrial growth and investments. They decided to deepen cooperation in new areas such as the green economy, innovation, science and technology, digital transformation, and green energy; to strengthen cooperation in education, training, human resources development, labour, culture, sports, tourism, and people-to-people links to realise the goal of sustainable development; and to deepen coordination on international and multilateral issues. For implementing the CSP, the foreign ministries will coordinate and develop a Plan of Action. Second, this strengthens ASEAN-a need for regional development. Both are important members of this multilateral organisation. Next year Malaysia will chair ASEAN and Lam expressed unwavering support for Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship. Both countries expressed commitment to work closely with other members to build a cohesive and prosperous ASEAN Community by promoting inclusive growth, sustainable development, and enhanced regional cooperation. They pledged to strengthen cooperation in areas of mutual interest, contributing to ASEAN’s unity, centrality, and resilience.     (ICE KUALA LUMPUR)

Fonte notizia: 28 Novembre 2024