MH370: Malaysia grateful to Vietnam for early assistance

HANOI: Malaysia has expressed gratitude to the Vietnamese government for its support and assistance during the early days of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft Flight MH370.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said Vietnam had been forthcoming in deploying its assets and in sharing relevant information on the missing aircraft.
"Malaysia will not give up in its efforts to locate the plane, and we are grateful for the assistance from our friends," he said at a joint press conference after an hour-long bilateral meeting with his counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung, here, today.
Najib who arrived here from Perth, Australia yesterday is on a three-day visit to Vietnam. This is his first formal visit to the country after becoming prime minister in 2009.
Flight MH370 with 239 people on board and enroute to Beijing, disappeared from the radar, on March 8 over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, about an hour after take-off from the KL International Airport.
On March 24, Najib announced that (the flight path of) Flight MH370 ended in a remote region of the southern Indian Ocean, based on detailed analyses of the satellite data.
At the same press conference, Dung expressed his heartfelt sympathy and sorrow to the government, the people of Malaysia and families of the passengers and crew of the missing aircraft.
On the bilateral meeting, Najib said it was a very constructive and fruitful discussion, providing an opportunity to exchange views on significant bilateral matters as well as international developments of interest to Malaysia and Vietnam.
Among others, the discussion focused on the excellent ongoing bilateral cooperation, which has further cemented relations between the two countries, particularly in the areas of trade and investment, agriculture, tourism, defence and security, and education.
Najib said Malaysia and Vietnam agreed that the time had come for the renewal of their excellent relations so that the bilateral relations could also become strategic relations.
"In this regard, we have agreed to task both our foreign ministers in a joint commission to provide the substance and the content on which our new relations will be based," he said.
Najib said Malaysia and Vietnam also agreed to look at more opportunities to increase the value and volume of trade and investment between the two countries. Total trade between Malaysia and Vietnam, he said, had increased by 67 per cent from 2010 to 2013.
The two countries have targeted to increase total trade to US$11 billion in 2015, from the present value of US$9 billion.
"Tomorrow morning, I will be chairing the meeting with the Malaysian business community and I will encourage them to look into increasing Malaysian investment in Vietnam," he said.
Earlier, Najib and Dung witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further enhance collaboration between the two countries in the field of agriculture.
Malaysia was represented by Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Vietnam by its Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Cao Duc Phat.
Also present were Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Vietnam's cabinet ministers. – Bernama