Vietnamese delegation in Geneva speaks at Australia's trade policy review

Australia has a comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam and is an economy with a trade market share in the top 20 in the world, therefore reviewing trade policies every 5 years according to WTO regulations to ensure transparency.

Speaking at the meeting, Ambassador - Head of the Delegation Mai Phan Dung highly appreciated the fact that the Australian economy still achieved an average GDP growth of nearly 2.2% during the review period (2020-2025) despite many uncertainties and disruptions globally. Australia is considered an attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) with a relatively liberal investment regime, abundant natural resources and a competitive market. The Ambassador affirmed that this development has a significant contribution from Australia's new policy measures on import taxes, including the automatic elimination of taxes on 457 tax lines to reduce compliance costs for businesses.

Regarding trade defense measures, the Ambassador said that Australia's trade defense investigations into Vietnamese exports are relatively transparent, taking into account information and data provided by the Vietnamese government and businesses. Therefore, in anti-subsidy cases against Vietnam, Australian investigating agencies have always determined that Vietnamese exports do not receive subsidies or that the subsidies are insignificant. Therefore, no anti-subsidy measures are applied to these products, allowing Vietnamese exports to continue to access the Australian market.

At the multilateral level, Vietnam highlighted Australia's support and active participation in WTO agendas, including issues such as trade and gender, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), trade facilitation, agriculture , WTO reform, etc.

At the regional level, Vietnam also appreciated Australia's role as an active member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and expressed hope that Australia would continue to promote global market access while assuming the role of CPTPP chair in 2025.

In addition, the Vietnamese Delegation in Geneva also actively coordinated with the Delegations of ASEAN countries to deliver a joint speech appreciating the cooperative relationship between ASEAN and Australia in economic, political, social and cultural aspects. In 2021, ASEAN and Australia established a comprehensive strategic partnership. In 2023, ASEAN-Australia two-way trade reached about 95 billion USD. In addition, the Australian Future for ASEAN Initiative worth 204 million AUD has actively contributed to cooperation in digital transformation and green economy.

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/thi-truong-nuoc-ngoai/phai-doan-viet-nam-tai-geneva-phat-bieu-tai-phien-ra-soat-chinh-sach-thuong-mai-cua-uc.html