(VOVWORLD) -General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam left Kuala Lumpur at noon on Saturday, concluding their three-day official visit to Malaysia, at the invitation of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his spouse.
 General Secretary To Lam and his wife leave Kuala Lumpur, successfully ending their official visit to Malaysia. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA
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Within the framework of his visit, Party leader Lam held talks with PM Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim; met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Tan Sri Dato' Johari Bin Abdul, and President of the Senate Dato’ Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah; and received Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Rural and Regional Development, and President of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He also had meetings with outstanding Vietnamese nationals living in ASEAN member states, and representatives from the Vietnamese community in Malaysia; visited several cultural and economic centers; and delivered a policy speech at the University of Malaya.
Within the framework of the visit, the two sides issued a Joint Statement on upgrading the bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Both sides affirmed their commitments to supporting each other on the path of development, continuing to enhance their friendship, cooperation and political trust, based on mutual respect for international law, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political systems.
Vietnam pledged continued support for Malaysia's ASEAN Chairmanship 2025, and reaffirmed Vietnam's commitment to continue working closely with Malaysia and all other ASEAN member countries towards realizing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. The two sides committed to furthering equitable, inclusive and sustainable development of the ASEAN Community through linking sub-regional development with comprehensive development of ASEAN.
They reiterated ASEAN's consistent stance on the East Sea and reaffirmed their commitments to continue close coordination to maintain peace, security, stability, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea. They emphasized the importance of peacefully settling disputes and not using or threatening to use force, in accordance with widely recognized principles of international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982.
On this occasion, Party General Secretary To Lam attended the opening ceremony of Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur direct air route of Vietjet Air, which is expected to further promote economic-cultural-tourism links between the two countries and the whole Southeast Asian region.