Malaysia and Vietnam are to establish a hotline between their navies to help tackle maritime problems, in the first move towards formal cooperation, Malaysia's defence minister said today.

Najib Razak said the proposal for a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation was proposed by his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Van Tra during their talks.

"They have suggested an MOU as the basis for a cooperative arrangement between our countries," the minister was quoted as saying by the state Bernama news agency.

Vantra proposed a hotline to facilitate communication in case of any urgent problems, such as those relating to fishermen, he said.

Illegal fishing

Vietnamese trawler crews are detained periodically for fishing illegally in Malaysian waters.

Najib said that at present there were no formal cooperation mechanisms between the armed forces of the two countries.

The minister also said that Vietnam was amenable to Malaysia hosting the inaugural meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) defence ministers expected to take place in May.