Western Australian state leaders appreciate and value cooperation with Vietnam

Photo caption — Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Pham Hung Tam (far right) greets Governor Christopher John Dawson (second from right). Photo: VNA

Also attending the Ambassador's activities during the visit was Consul General of Vietnam in Western Australia and the Northern Territory Nguyen Thanh Ha.

According to a VNA correspondent in Australia, during the visit, Ambassador Pham Hung Tam greeted Governor Christopher John Dawson; met and worked with Premier Roger Cook, Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett; met and worked with a number of Western Australian businesses and representatives of the Vietnamese community in the state.

At meetings with leaders of Western Australia, Ambassador Pham Hung Tam assessed that, with the active connection and promotion of the Consulate General of Vietnam in Western Australia in recent times, the relationship between Western Australia and Vietnam is developing positively, along with the strong development of the Vietnam - Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. One of the advantages in the relationship between Western Australia and Vietnam is that there is a direct flight between Perth (capital of Western Australia) and Ho Chi Minh City - the largest economic center of Vietnam, with short flight time and much cheaper fares than from Perth to some other cities in Australia, thereby facilitating tourism, cultural exchange, and increasingly vibrant economic - trade relations.

Regarding education, Ambassador Pham Hung Tam said that Vietnam and Australia have established a Joint Working Group on Cross-Border Education chaired by the Ministries of Education and Training of the two countries to coordinate and promote international training cooperation in various forms. The Ambassador proposed that the University of Western Australia consider opening a campus in Vietnam following the model of RMIT University to promote training cooperation with Vietnamese educational institutions. The Ambassador highly appreciated and requested the Western Australian government to continue to pay attention and create conditions for more than 3,000 Vietnamese students to study here.

Regarding import and export of goods, Ambassador Pham Hung Tam emphasized that Vietnam has a need to import raw materials from Australia to serve production activities, especially iron ore from Western Australia. Currently, Vietnam is one of the five largest iron ore import markets of Western Australia, and has the potential to export many electronic, consumer and construction materials to the Australian market. In addition, because Western Australia has a great demand for skilled labor and construction engineers, this is also a potential area for cooperation. Ambassador Pham Hung Tam shared the idea of promoting an agreement at the government level related to the recognition of skills of engineers and workers of the two countries.

Ambassador Pham Hung Tam also emphasized that each year, more than 200,000 Vietnamese tourists come to Australia, of which the number of visitors to Western Australia is increasing. In the opposite direction, there are about 500,000 Australian tourists coming to Vietnam. On that basis, people-to-people exchanges will help enhance understanding and connection between the two sides, laying the foundation for promoting cooperation in many other fields.

For their part, the leaders of the Western Australian government highly appreciated and valued cooperation with Vietnam. Governor Christopher John Dawson said that the long-standing and effective relationship between Australia and Vietnam is helping the two countries to promote cooperation in the fields of economics, trade, investment and tourism. The Governor supported the continued maintenance of cooperation momentum between the two sides, especially cooperation in trade, education and tourism.

Premier Roger Cook expressed his hope to deepen the economic cooperation between Western Australia and Vietnam in the coming time, affirming that he will seek opportunities to meet Vietnam's energy needs as well as support Vietnam in developing renewable energy production capacity. According to Premier Roger Cook, the Western Australian government is planning to organize a delegation to visit Vietnam in the coming time to seek opportunities to promote cooperation in this field.

The Premier agreed on the need to establish a sister relationship between Western Australia and Ho Chi Minh City, as Western Australia previously had a sister relationship with Ba Ria-Vung Tau province but has now merged with Ho Chi Minh City. He emphasized his hope to promote stronger cooperation with Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular in the coming time, especially in the fields of tourism, education and import and export of goods.

When introducing the potential and strengths of Cockburn City in the fields of maritime, shipbuilding, health and heavy industry, Mayor Logan K. Howlett said that Cockburn is also home to an Australian submarine maintenance facility under the Australia-UK-US Trilateral Security Treaty (AUKUS). According to the Australian Federal Government's plan, 20 warships will be built at this city's shipbuilding facility in the near future.

Meanwhile, the University of Western Australia is planning to establish a research center on sustainable ocean technology. Therefore, Cockburn has great potential for development and will also create many jobs in the future, possibly up to 10,000. This will be an opportunity for international students, including Vietnamese students, in the coming years.

During his visit to Western Australia, Ambassador Pham Hung Tam met with representatives of the Vietnamese community and a number of businesses in the state that have cooperative and business relations with Vietnam. The Ambassador learned about the business situation of the businesses as well as the lives of Vietnamese people in the area, emphasizing the great benefits of the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, and encouraged the establishment of associations supporting the Vietnam - Australia relationship, including business and investment cooperation.

Before arriving in Western Australia, Ambassador Pham Hung Tam visited Darwin city (Northern Territory) from October 6-8; met and worked with Ms. Robyn Cahill - Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Asian Relations of the Northern Territory; promoted a number of potential cooperation projects of Vietnamese enterprises in the area, including projects of Vingroup and the Vietnam - Northern Australia Business Council.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/lanh-dao-bang-tay-australia-danh-gia-cao-va-coi-trong-hop-tac-voi-viet-nam-20251013185935161.htm