The Governor-General of Australia Quentin Bryce said she is delighted at the strong development of comprehensive relations between Vietnam and her country over the last 40 years.

During her reception for the outgoing Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Hoang Vinh Thanh, on February 7 in Canberra, Quentin congratulated Vietnam on its achievements in socio-economic development.

The host complimented Ambassador Thanh on his efforts in strengthening and pushing the bilateral comprehensive partnership, expressing her hope that in his next post, the ambassador will further contribute to boosting the ties between the two sides.

She also praised contributions made by the Vietnamese community in the country to promoting the friendship between the two nations, while reiterating her impression on Vietnam’s dynamic development in the recent time.

For his part, the Vietnamese diplomat lauded the two governments for their endeavours and determination to implement the comprehensive partnership in all fields, from politics, economics, culture, education, tourism to security and defence.

He said that Bryce’s state-level visit to Vietnam in 2011 was an important event to reinforce and foster cooperation and mutual understanding between the two nations.

Thanh expressed his belief that the exchange of visits along with bilateral meetings between their high-ranking officials in the coming time will help further deepen their ties.

From 2009-2013, economic cooperation between Vietnam and Australia saw a strong development as two-way trade in 2013 increased to 6 billion AUD from 3.3 billion AUD in 2009.

Australia’s official development assistance (ODA) capital for Vietnam climbed to almost 160 million AUD from 105.9 million AUD.

The ambassador said the two sides should continue creating favourable conditions to help their businesses further step up cooperation in investment, thus making Vietnam and Australia become even closer economic partners.-VNA