HANOI - Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will begin an official three-day visit to Malaysia on Wednesday, state media announced.

Khai's trip is at the invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who paid a brief visit to Hanoi in January, the ruling Communist Party's Nhan Dan newspaper said Saturday.

Viet workers

During Badawi's visit, the two leaders pledged to continue economic and political cooperation.

Bilateral trade between the two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members reached US$1.36billion in 2003 compared with US$474 million in 1996, according to Vietnamese trade figures.

Malaysia is a popular destination for Vietnamese labourers. Since April 2002, nearly 70,000 Vietnamese have travelled there on guest worker schemes. - AFP