””””KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Vietnam fully supports Malaysia's proposal
for setting up an ASEAN+3 secretariat in Kuala Lumpur, a Malaysian
senior official said Monday.
””””Visiting Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung conveyed Vietnam's support
of the proposal during his meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Foreign Minister Leo Michael Toyad told reporters after
a Malaysia-Vietnam bilateral meeting here Monday. Abdullah and Dzung led
their respective sides at the meeting.
””””"Vietnam will also strive to cooperate with Malaysia in making the proposal
a reality in efforts to enhance relations between theASEAN member countries,"
Toyad said.
””””Dzung arrived here Sunday for a four-day visit to Malaysia. He is leading a
65-member delegation which includes several ministers.
””””Malaysia's proposal for the secretariat to be established in Kuala Lumpur
was brought up at the recent ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Brunei but a consensus
could not be reached on the matter.
””””The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam. ASEAN+3 is made up of the 10 ASEAN nations and China,
Japan and South Korea.
””””Toyad said that Malaysia was still continuing its efforts to convince
fellow ASEAN members on the importance of establishing a separate ASEAN+3
secretariat and to get their consensus.
””””Referring to the bilateral meeting, Toyad said that it covered trade cooperation
and investment in the fields of tourism, education, agriculture, human
resources development as well as the joint-venture project in the petroleum
industry.
””””He said Vietnam had invited Malaysian investors to increase their
investments in the country's free trade zone, infrastructuredevelopment
especially in the transportation sector and also offered their workers for
employment in Malaysia.
””””Malaysia is currently the second largest investor in Vietnam among ASEAN
member countries. Last year, bilateral trade between the two countries stood at
3 billion ringgit (789 million US dollars).
””””On the recruitment of Vietnamese workers, Toyad said that the government
had agreed in principle to Vietnam's offer to supply workers in the sectors and
industries requiring them and an agreement on the matter would be signed by both
governments.
””””He said that the matter would come up for discussion at the meeting of the
Malaysia-Vietnam Joint Commission next year and if necessary, at their
inter-agencies meeting. Enditem
””””
””
””