Deepening the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership

At the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid an official visit to Vietnam from June 3 to 4. This is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's first official visit to Vietnam since taking office, taking place in the year Vietnam and Australia celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations (1973-2023).

Australian Prime Minister arrives in Hanoi . Photo: VNA

The Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership has developed strongly, practically and effectively in recent years. Political relations are increasingly trustworthy, especially through the exchange of visits and contacts at high and all levels. Leaders of the two countries have agreed on the direction to upgrade the Vietnam-Australia relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership at the appropriate time.

Bilateral cooperation mechanisms have been maintained. Cooperation documents have been actively implemented, of which the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership Action Plan for the 2020-2023 period has achieved many specific results.

Vietnam-Australia economic cooperation has made remarkable progress. Two-way trade turnover in 2022 reached 15.7 billion USD, up 26.7% compared to 2021; in the first quarter of 2023, it reached 3.41 billion USD. By the end of February 2023, Australia had 590 investment projects in Vietnam, with a total investment capital of about 2 billion USD. Vietnam invested in Australia with 88 projects, with a total capital of 592.3 million USD.

Vietnam and Australia will continue to cooperate effectively and substantively in the fields of security and defense, upgrading the regular exchange mechanism at the Defense Minister level in 2022. Delegation exchanges, cooperation in crime prevention, information and experience exchange, including in the field of peacekeeping, will be enhanced. The Royal Australian Navy has supported the transport of Vietnam's field hospital to the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan.

Cooperation in education, training, labor, agriculture, tourism, etc. has developed positively and has much potential. Australia always provides a stable source of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam. Australia actively supports Vietnam in preventing Covid-19 and is a major donor of Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam. Australia is also interested in promoting a number of new areas of cooperation with Vietnam, such as climate change response, digital transformation, and energy transformation.

Australia actively supports Vietnam at regional and international forums, most recently supporting Vietnam's candidacy and election as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term.

The two countries maintain coordination on regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea issue; promote cooperation at international organizations and multilateral forums, such as the United Nations, ASEAN, APEC... and in free trade agreements that both sides participate in, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

In 2023, Vietnam and Australia celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations and the 5th anniversary of the two countries upgrading their relationship to a Strategic Partnership. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's official visit to Vietnam was made just two months after the State visit of Governor-General of Australia David Hurley to Vietnam. This affirms that Australia values the relationship and wishes to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam.

The visit contributes to further consolidating political trust and promoting multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, especially in politics-diplomacy, defense-security, economy, investment, labor, education, climate change response, digital transformation, people-to-people exchange, etc., enhancing coordination between the two countries on regional and international issues of common stance, as well as at multilateral organizations and forums.

Welcoming the Australian Prime Minister on an official visit, Vietnam affirmed its consistent policy of attaching importance to and wishing to further consolidate and deepen the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership. This is also an opportunity for Vietnam to continue to consistently implement its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralization and diversification of foreign relations; being a friend, a reliable partner and an active, responsible member of the international community.

The successful official visit to Vietnam by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will contribute to raising the stature of the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership in a new development stage, contributing to stability, cooperation and development of the region and the world.

According to Nhan Dan newspaper

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