Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomes Australia's Southeast Asia 2040 economic strategy

On the morning of October 11, on the occasion of attending the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related conferences in Vientiane, Laos, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the ceremony to celebrate the first year of implementing Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy 2040.

Thủ tướng Phạm Minh Chính hoan nghênh chiến lược kinh tế Đông Nam Á 2040 của Australia

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the ceremony. (Photo: Nhat Bac)

Over the past year, according to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Australia has sent 220 business delegations to Southeast Asian countries to seek investment opportunities, established a 2 billion AUD investment support fund, thereby increasing FDI value in the region by over 1 billion AUD with effective support from 3 newly established or about-to-be-established Investment Promotion Centers in Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta and Singapore.

Australia has also increased 130 scholarships for the region, rolled out a $22.5 million Mekong Sub-region Support Package and increased the visa duration for ASEAN businesses from three to five years.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the ceremony. (Photo: Nhat Bac)

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister highly appreciated Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy 2040, emphasizing that ASEAN's development cannot be without the positive contributions of Australia, especially private enterprises.

The Prime Minister suggested that Australia pay attention to developing balanced trade, investing in infrastructure and logistics connectivity projects, and implementing cooperation in traditional fields as well as new fields such as digital economy, green economy and innovation.

The Prime Minister also suggested that Australia pay attention to expanding cooperation in education and training, labor cooperation and youth cooperation to create new breakthroughs for ASEAN-Australia economic relations in the coming years, in line with the newly established ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021.