Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, November 12, 2022. (Source: VNA) |
Real meaning, full of expectations
The visit takes place at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations (1973-2023) and five years of building a strategic partnership (2018-2023).
This is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first official visit to Vietnam, his second to a Southeast Asian country since taking office and the third official visit to Vietnam by an Australian Prime Minister. The visit took place shortly after the State visit to Vietnam by Governor-General David Hurley in early April. This shows the Albanese government’s special regard for and desire to deepen the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership.
According to a press release on the visit by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, Vietnam is an increasingly important economic and strategic partner for Australia in Southeast Asia, a focus area in the foreign policy of Prime Minister Albanese's Government.
Ahead of the visit, Prime Minister Albanese said: “My first official visit to Vietnam is an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries and to agree on new areas of economic, trade and other cooperation to bring about an even stronger relationship in the future.”
In the context of both countries proactively promoting the bilateral relationship, Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh expressed his belief that the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Albanese is of great significance in creating a foundation for a closer partnership between the two countries in the new period both bilaterally and multilaterally, while contributing to strengthening personal relations between the two countries' senior leaders.
Ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh emphasized that, in the context of the two countries' relations developing strongly and comprehensively, and the regional and international situation having many new developments, the exchanges between Prime Minister Albanese and senior Vietnamese leaders are expected to have many substantive and practical contents, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Accordingly, the Leaders will review the outstanding achievements in bilateral relations, especially the implementation of the Action Plan to implement the Strategic Partnership, which is scheduled to be completed this year. The implementation of the Strategy to Enhance Economic Cooperation to 2025 has achieved many specific results in trade, education-training, people-to-people exchange, etc., but new directions from the senior leaders of the two countries are needed to achieve all the set goals, especially in investment, labor and culture.
The official talks between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are expected to define new directions for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, finalize areas and focuses of cooperation in the new period. In the current context, the two countries are likely to prioritize cooperation in mutually beneficial and highly complementary areas such as climate change response, digital transformation, green development, clean energy, sustainable supply chains and coordination in the Mekong sub-region, ASEAN as well as other regional and international forums. These could be new pillars of cooperation to bring the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership to new heights.
In addition, the two Prime Ministers are expected to witness the signing of a number of important cooperation agreements in the fields of trade, finance, science-technology, education-training and the opening of a number of new direct flights between the two countries.
Positive nurturing from both sides
The Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership has recently developed strongly, substantially and effectively in many fields.
In terms of politics and diplomacy, bilateral relations are increasingly trustworthy, especially through the exchange of visits and contacts at high and all levels. In recent years, delegation exchanges at all levels have taken place regularly and smoothly with the initiative and positivity from both sides.
Most recently, in April 2023, Governor-General David Hurley visited Vietnam, his only state visit to a Southeast Asian country. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Richard Marles visited Vietnam in November 2022, launching the first annual Defence Dialogue at the ministerial level. Foreign Minister Penny Wong also chose Vietnam as the first ASEAN country to officially visit in June 2022, and Trade Minister Don Farrell visited Vietnam in April 2023.
In the opposite direction, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue is the first high-ranking Vietnamese leader to visit Australia in the past five years (November 2022). Politburo member and Head of the Central Internal Affairs Commission Phan Dinh Trac made a meaningful visit (November 2022), while Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son visited Australia (September 2022) to implement the annual mechanism between the two heads of the diplomatic sector. Notably, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, after a phone call in October 2022, met directly with Prime Minister Albanese twice on the occasion of the 41st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (November 2022) and the expanded G7 Summit in Tokyo, Japan (May 2023). On the occasion of attending the coronation ceremony of British King Charles III (May 2023), President Vo Van Thuong also met with Prime Minister Albanese.
Notably, the leaders of the two countries agreed on the direction to upgrade the framework of the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership at the appropriate time. Cooperation documents between the two countries, especially the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership Action Plan for the 2020-2023 period, are being actively implemented and achieving many specific results.
Regarding trade and investment, two-way trade turnover in 2022 will reach 15.7 billion USD, up 26.7% compared to 2021. The turnover in the first quarter of 2023 will reach 3.41 billion USD. Currently, Australia is Vietnam's seventh largest trading partner and Vietnam is Australia's 10th largest partner.
By the end of April 2023, Australia had 596 investment projects with a total investment capital of 1.99 billion USD, ranking 20th out of 143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, focusing on the fields of processing, manufacturing, accommodation services, healthcare, social assistance, and agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. By February 2023, Vietnam invested in Australia with 88 projects with a total investment capital of 592.3 million USD, ranking 10th out of 79, mainly in the fields of agriculture, forestry, wholesale and retail, and manufacturing.
In terms of security and defense, the two countries continue to cooperate substantially and effectively, and the two sides have upgraded the regular exchange mechanism at the Defense Minister level (in 2022). Cooperation in the fields of education and training, labor, agriculture, tourism, etc. has developed well and has much potential. Australia always provides Vietnam with a stable source of Official Development Assistance (ODA); actively supports Vietnam in preventing and combating Covid-19; and is interested in promoting a number of new areas of cooperation such as climate change response, digital transformation, and energy transformation.
Regarding regional and international cooperation, Australia is an important member with a voice in multilateral forums and on the international stage, effectively contributing to ASEAN and Mekong sub-region cooperation; actively supporting Vietnam in regional and international forums. The two countries cooperate closely on regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea issue; promote cooperation in multilateral organizations and forums (United Nations, ASEAN, APEC, etc.); the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement that both countries participate in and sign.
Based on the solid strategic partnership that has been continuously nurtured over the past time, the common vision and efforts to promote from both sides, the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to create new momentum for the relationship on all channels, continue to deepen strategic trust, towards the common vision of the two countries for the next 50 years; at the same time, create momentum for cooperation in potential areas to develop the relationship between the two countries more comprehensively, meeting the wishes of the leaders as well as the people of the two countries.
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