Vietnamese Party General Secretary To Lam and his spouse will pay an official visit to Malaysia from Thursday to Saturday to further promote the friendship ties and strategic partnership between the two countries, according to the Central Commission for External Relations.

The commission on Monday confirmed that the Party chief is traveling to Malaysia at the invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

This is To Lam's first visit to Malaysia since he took office in August.

The relationship between Vietnam and Malaysia has thrived over the past decades, especially since they entered a strategic partnership nine years ago, commented the commission. 

The three-day visit is expected to consolidate the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries, and develop the bilateral strategic partnership more efficiently, intensively, and substantially.

Vietnam and Malaysia established diplomatic relations on March 30, 1973, and entered a strategic partnership in August 2015.

Currently, Vietnam is the only ASEAN country with which Malaysia has set up a strategic partnership.

In July last year, PM Ibrahim officially visited Vietnam, holding talks and meetings with the country’s key leaders, focusing on strengthening all-round cooperation.

Last month, Speaker of the Malaysian House of Representatives Tan Sri Dato' Johari Bin Abdul visited Vietnam at the invitation of Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man.

In a meeting with the Malaysian legislator, Party General Secretary Lam emphasized that building an effective cooperative relationship between the two countries is very important given the complicated global situation.

The Party leader suggested that the two sides increase exchanges and contacts at all levels to strengthen political trust while closely coordinating issues of mutual concern.

He also spoke of increasing their combined efforts to promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation, intending to push two-way trade to US$18 billion in 2025.

Malaysia is currently in Vietnam's top 10 largest trade partners.

In the first nine months of 2024, bilateral trade reached $10.64 billion, equivalent to about 84 percent of the turnover for last year, according to official figures.

Beyond trade, cooperation between the two countries is thriving in various sectors, including investment, banking, agriculture, energy, labor, and particularly the halal industry.

Both nations are members of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

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