Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	THE CULTURAL PALACE, HANOI, VIETNAM 
Tarikh/Date 	:	19/04/92 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OFFICIAL DINNER HOSTED BY H.E. 
			MR. VO VAN KIET, CHAIRMAN OF THE 
			COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF THE 
			SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM 




 Your Excellency Mr. Vo Van Kiet,
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
Madame Cam,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
    I  wish  first  of  all to thank you for your very warm
words of welcome and for the generous  hospitality  accorded
to  me, my wife and the many members of my delegation.  I am
indeed very happy to be here in Vietnam to return your visit
and renew our friendship and  see  for  myself  the  dynamic
changes  that  are taking place in this country.  May I also
express our sincere appreciation to you, Excellency, for the
excellent arrangements made for  this  visit,  which  is  my
first  to Vietnam.  I look forward to enjoying the charm and
beauty of this country and continuing the  dialogue  we  had
established.
2.   When  we met just a few months ago during your official
visit to Malaysia we had very useful exchanges of  views  on
the whole spectrum of our bilateral relations as well as re-
gional  and  international  issues of mutual concern.   I am
confident that my visit to Vietnam will  enhance  the  close
friendship  and cooperation between our two countries.  I am
happy that the seeds we have sown thus far in  our  economic
cooperation  are  beginning  to  bear fruit.   The volume of
trade between our two countries has increased  substantially
over  the  last two years and several major Malaysian corpo-
rate groups such as PETRONAS, Public Bank  and  Golden  Hope
have  already  established  their presence in Vietnam.  This
evidence of growing confidence in Vietnam is the  result  of
the  pragmatic  economic policy being pursued by the govern-
ment of Vietnam under Your Excellency's leadership.
3.   Though progress in the field of trade and economic  co-
operation  has  been encouraging, vast potentials are yet to
be tapped.  We must continue to build upon  the  success  we
have  achieved for our mutual benefit.  The fact that I have
brought with me a large delegation from the  private  sector
bears  testimony to the seriousness of our desire to see re-
lations between our  two  countries  accelerate  to  greater
heights.    It  is  my hope that Malaysian entrepreneurs and
businessmen would be accepted as genuine and  sincere  part-
ners in the economic development of Vietnam.
Your Excellency,
4.   In  the course of your noble efforts to develop Vietnam
economically, you would require enormous amounts of  capital
and trained manpower.  I pledge to you today, as I have done
so  during  your last visit to our country, Malaysia's read-
iness to share with Vietnam our development  experience  and
to  provide  assistance  in  the field of rubber technology,
management, administration and technical training.  We do so
in the spirit of friendship and cooperation and in the  firm
belief  that  economically  stable and prosperous neighbours
will contribute positively to the peace and security of  the
whole  region.  We  also  do  so in the firm conviction that
present-day Vietnam is sincere in wanting to live  in  peace
and cooperation with its neighbours and participate fully as
a responsible member of the Southeast Asian community.
5.   Recent developments in the world have convinced us that
countries  in the region have no choice but to work together
closely.  The end of the  East-West  confrontation  and  the
emergence  in  Europe  and the Americas of new political and
economic groupings, each concerned with its own regional in-
terest first, make it all the more necessary and urgent  for
all  of  us  in Southeast and East Asia to come together and
plan for the future on a regional basis.  Failure to  do  so
would  only put us at a disadvantage.  It is for this reason
that we in ASEAN have agreed to strengthen  our  cooperation
by  taking  definitive  steps  to bring into realisation the
ASEAN Free Trade Arrangement within 15 years.  Other  insti-
tutional  arrangements  have also been agreed upon to ensure
that ASEAN becomes a truly effective  organisation  to  meet
future  challenges, guarantee development, peace and stabil-
ity in the region.
6.   While we are confident that the ASEAN six would be able
to play the role it is envisaged, we believe that  an  ASEAN
10,  comprising  the present six member states and all other
Southeast Asian countries, would provide a truly  formidable
force of peace, progress and stability in the entire region.
We  in  Malaysia  envision the establishment of a prosperous
community of Southeast Asian nations linked  together  by  a
strong  commitment to cooperate for peace, progress and sta-
bility, where people travel freely to each other's  country,
where  trade  and  investment  flow  with  little  or no re-
striction, and where common institutions exist to train  our
scholars and scientists so as to be at par with those of de-
veloped countries.
7.   We are encouraged by the fact that Vietnam and Laos are
now  ready to sign the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation
and we hope that it would not be too long before both  coun-
tries could be full members of ASEAN.  That Vietnam has been
able  to  forge  closer  relations with its ASEAN neighbours
over the last few years speaks highly of  the  statesmanship
and pragmatism of the country's leadership.  We are glad the
days  of confrontation and conflict over the Cambodian issue
are behind us and that we can now devote our efforts towards
the betterment of our peoples' lives.  Let the events of the
past be lessons for the future.  Never again should we allow
conflicts and confrontation to arise and  stultify  our  re-
lations.
Your Excellency,
8.   There  remains  only  two  outstanding issues to be re-
solved between us - namely the question of Vietnamese  boat-
people  in  Malaysia  and the overlapping claim in the South
China Sea.  We had agreed in Kuala Lumpur  to  settle  these
issues  peacefully  by negotiations.   We are confident that
with the friendship and spirit of understanding  that  exist
among us today, these issues could be settled quickly in the
manner we had envisaged together.
9.   As  we look to the future with hope and confidence, let
us continue to strengthen the foundation of our relations so
that mutually beneficial ties will develop in every possible
fields.  In this regard, it is a matter of  great  satisfac-
tion  to  me  that tomorrow we shall be signing the Post and
Telecommunication Agreement as well as the Economic,  Scien-
tific  and  Technical Cooperation Agreement which will bring
our two countries even closer.   I am  confident  the  Joint
Commission  that we have agreed to establish will provide an
efficient mechanism to manage our cooperative endeavours.
Your Excellency,
10.  When you paid us a visit  in  January  this  year,  you
brought with you a cultural team to entertain our people and
demonstrate the richness of Vietnam's cultural tradition.  I
am happy to be able to reciprocate your kind gesture by also
bringing  a  Malaysian cultural team to Vietnam to entertain
you and the people of this country.  I hope you  will  enjoy
the show.
11.  Distinguished  guests,  ladies and gentlemen, may I in-
vite you to rise and join me in a toast to the  good  health
of  H.E. Vo Chi Cong, President of the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam and H.E, Vo Van Kiet, Chairman  of  the  Council  of
Ministers and Madam Cam and to the continuing friendship be-
tween Malaysia and Vietnam.