Viet Nam and Malaysia have great potential to promote trade and investment with Malaysia being one of the most important importers of Vietnamese goods in Southeast Asia in the post-pandemic period, a HCM City official said.

Speaking at a meeting on June 2, Tran Phu Lu, deputy director of the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), said key Vietnamese exports to Malaysia include machinery and equipment and their parts, computers, electronics and components, steel, petroleum, and chemicals.

“The two countries have set a trade target of US$25 billion by 2030.”

“The recent visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob to Viet Nam in March confirmed the strategic relationship between the two countries.”

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the global trade deal which took effect early this year, would help boost bilateral trade, he added.

Last year, Malaysia was the ninth largest trade partner for Viet Nam.

Viet Nam was the 11th largest trade partner and seventh largest export market for Malaysia with their trade rising by nearly 25 per cent to $11.8 billion in 2021.

According to the General Department of Customs, the figure for the first four months of this year was an estimated $5 billion, up 15 per cent year-on-year.

Viet Nam’s exports to Malaysia were worth nearly $1.7 billion in the first four months, up 12 per cent year-on-year.

Halal industry

The Malaysian Halal market was worth $3.1 billion last year and is expected to grow to $5 billion by 2030, and Viet Nam could export this product to the country, according to Lu.

Malaysia currently ranks eighth out of the 140 countries and territories that have invested in Viet Nam, with 664 projects worth $13 billion as of the end of 2021.

Viet Nam has 21 projects in Malaysia with registered capital of $853 million, the ninth biggest of its 78 overseas investment destinations. — VNS