Prime Minister visits Australia: An important step forward for bilateral relations

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh 's visit to Australia is expected to create the next important step in the bilateral relationship, especially in five potential areas of cooperation.

Next week, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife will attend the Special Summit to celebrate 50 years of ASEAN-Australia relations and pay an official visit to Australia. Before Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's overseas trip, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski made assessments of the relationship and potential for future cooperation between the two countries. The Ambassador said that this is an important visit, taking place right after the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Australia relations last year. All important Australian leaders have visited Vietnam.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the occasion of attending the ASEAN Summit in 2022. Photo: VGP

This year, Australia will welcome all ASEAN leaders. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is one of three ASEAN leaders who will pay an official bilateral visit to Australia on this occasion. Australia highly values the importance of Vietnam and hopes to further develop and elevate the bilateral relationship after the visit. Ambassador Andrew pointed out five special areas of cooperation that will be the focus of the visit. First, strengthening political and strategic cooperation. Vietnam and Australia share many similar views, such as regional self-reliance, respect for international law and support for a free and open region. Second, economic and trade cooperation. Currently, Australia is implementing a new economic policy for Vietnam that the two Prime Ministers will announce. With this policy, it is hoped that it will attract more Australian investment to Vietnam. Third, education - an area in which Australia is an important partner of Vietnam. The Ambassador believes that the potential for cooperation in this area is even greater. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is very interested in education and will attend an education roundtable in Canberra, attracting the participation of all Australian universities. Fourth, energy transition and climate change response. During his visit to Vietnam in June 2023, the Australian Prime Minister announced a $105 million Australian support package to cooperate with Vietnam to help promote this important transition. Also last year, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited Vietnam and announced an additional $95 million Australian support to enhance climate adaptation in the Mekong Delta region. The two sides will have many discussions on these issues.

Australia regularly provides aircraft to transport Vietnamese peacekeeping forces on missions. Photo: Nguyen Hue

Fifth, sharing knowledge, innovation and science. The two countries are promoting a lot of cooperation in this field. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh gives a lot of priority to digital transformation. The Ambassador shared that many cooperation ideas between the two countries will be promoted after the visit. During the visit of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to Australia at the end of 2022, the leaders of the two countries announced their intention to upgrade the bilateral relationship. Last year, Vietnam upgraded relations with three important partners: South Korea, Japan and the US. Therefore, Ambassador Andrew Goledzinowski believes that the two Prime Ministers will take the next important step in the relationship between Australia and Vietnam. A number of leading Australian companies and corporations are expected to meet Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to discuss investment opportunities. Vietnam has great prospects in solar energy, offshore wind energy and other renewable energy sources. These are areas where Australia and Vietnam can cooperate and develop together. Regarding the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, the Ambassador affirmed that Australia wants to further strengthen economic cooperation with ASEAN. ASEAN is currently Australia's second most important trade partner, even more than Korea, Japan, and the US. Australia wants to consolidate and further develop this relationship based on those foundations, towards building strategic and political cooperation in the region. Some information about the conference given by the Ambassador is that there will be some important announcements on economic cooperation, along with some important side events taking place in Melbourne revolving around the clean energy transition, maritime cooperation, or the role of emerging leaders. ASEAN has always been a stable partner and values dialogue. At this conference, the two sides will discuss ASEAN's central role. ASEAN is at the center of Australia's regional strategic policy. The conference will further strengthen ASEAN's role in maintaining stability, peace and dialogue in the region.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh 's visit to Australia is expected to create the next important step in the bilateral relationship, especially in five potential areas of cooperation.

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