HANOI: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad paid a courtesy call on the President of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, here, today.
Dr Mahathir arrived at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Vietnam at 9.25am (10.25am Malaysian time) and met with Trong for about 25 minutes.
Trong is the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
It was the first meeting between Trong and Dr Mahathir since the latter became the seventh prime minister of Malaysia last year.
Dr Mahathir was accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and the Malaysian Ambassador to Vietnam Datuk Shariffah Norhana Syed Mustaffa.
Dr Mahathir, who is on a three-day official visit to Vietnam beginning Monday, has a packed schedule on the final day today.
He is scheduled to visit the headquarters of FPT Software, a global IT services and outsourcing company, in the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Zone, and address university students on "Malaysia’s Preparation Towards Industrial Revolution 4.0".
Dr Mahathir will also visit an exhibition of Vietnamese cars, particularly the VinFast models Lu SA 2.0, Lux SA (A) 2.0 and Fadil 1.5, and is expected to test-drive one of the models.
Later, he is scheduled to visit the Noi Bai Industrial Zone (NBIZ) where he performed the groundbreaking for the project in 1996.
He is also expected to visit Yamaha Motor’s Vietnam factory in the industrial zone.
The NBIZ is the first foreign-owned industrial zone in Hanoi. It was established in 1994 with 100 hectares under the first phase and 14 hectares were added on in the second phase.
The NBIZ is managed by Noi Bai Development Corporation Limited (NBD), a joint-venture company set up by Vista Spectrum (M) Sdn Bhd of Malaysia and Urban Infrastructure Development Investment Corporation (UDIC) of Vietnam.
Forty foreign investors, mainly from Japan, Thailand, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and, most recently, France have invested in the NBIZ.
Dr Mahathir is scheduled to conclude his three-day official visit to Hanoi this afternoon. — BERNAMA