Kuala Lumpur (VNA)✅ – Major newspapers of Malaysia carried various articles ahead of theupcoming official visit to Vietnam of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamadand his spouse, which will take place on August 27-28.

The New Strait Timesnewspaper highlighted that the visit of the Malaysian PM this time is intendedto further strengthen the bilateral relations and create chances to bolstertrade with a target to bring two-way trade turnover to 15 billion USD nextyear. The newspaper quotedMalaysian Ambassador to Vietnam Shariffah Norhana Syed Mustaffa as saying thatsince the two countries set up diplomatic ties in March 1973, the bilateralrelationship has been fostered and developed constantly in various spheres. Malaysia is currentlyVietnam’s 11th biggest trade partner while Vietnam is Malaysia’s 13th majorpartner in the world, and fourth leading trade partner in ASEAN afterSingapore, Thailand and Indonesia. In addition, Malaysiais the eighth largest investor in Vietnam with investments amounting to 12.48billion USD in 2018, she noted. The Malaysian PM andhis Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc will discuss the bilateral ties andways to promote new collaborations in numerous fields, such as trade andindustry, security, education and agriculture, along with regional and global issuesof mutual concern. While in Vietnam, theMalaysian PM is set to visit the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park and give a speech toVietnamese university students on Malaysia’s preparation towards the FourthIndustrial Revolution. He will also pay avisit to the Vinfast automobile manufacturing factory of VinGroup and the NoiBai Industrial Zone which is managed by a Malaysian-Vietnamese joint venturecompany. PM Mahathir attended the ground-breaking ceremony of the industrialzone during his previous Vietnam visit in 1998, the Malaysian diplomat said. Earlier, the Bernamanews agency ran an interview with Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Nguyen QuyQuynh on the forthcoming visit of the Malaysian PM. The diplomat attachedimportance to the visit of the Malaysian PM this time, which is expected tofurther consolidate the countries’ existing strategic partnership. He said both countrieshave enjoyed great relations over the years, but there are still variousopportunities in trade and investments that can be explored by the businessesof both countries. Other Malaysiannewspapers, including the Malaysiakini and The Sun Daily, also highlighted theMalaysian PM’s upcoming visit to Vietnam. They affirmed that Vietnam is asignificant trade partner of Malaysia and the visit will deepen the bilateralties and address several issues.-VNA