Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh. (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in Australia) In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency(VNA)'s resident correspondents in Sydney ahead of the PM’s trip from June 3-4,Thanh said the visit takes place at a time when the two countries arecelebrating the 50th founding anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties andthe 5th anniversary of the strategic partnership.
This is the second official visit to a SoutheastAsian nation by PM Albanese since he took office, and the third to Vietnam by anAustralian PM, the ambassador said, noting that the trip shows PM Albanese’sadministration attaches importance to Vietnam.
Thanh also recalled the visit to Vietnam byAustralian Governor-General David Hurley in April, which was his onlyState-level visit to a Southeast Asian nation, and another trip to Vietnam byMinister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell in the same month.
In June 2022, Minister for Foreign Affairs PennyWong selected Vietnam as the first ASEAN country to pay an official visit. Fivemonths later, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marlesvisited Vietnam and implemented the first annual defence dialogue at theministerial level between the two countries.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. (Photo: Australian Government) Notably, following their phone talks in October2022, PM Pham Minh Chinh and his Australian counterpart Albanese met on theoccasion of the ASEAN Summit in November of the same year and the G7 Summitlast May. Also in May, Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong had a meeting with PMAlbanese on the occasion of the coronation of King Charles III of the UK.
Thanh expressed his belief that with efforts ofthe two sides, the upcoming visit will create a foundation for the bilateralties to grow further, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
According to the diplomat, PM Albanese, who isalso leader of the Australian Labour Party, is scheduled to meet with GeneralSecretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong as part of histrip. Their meeting is expected to consolidate strategic confidence and lay aground for the bilateral relations in the coming decades.
The Vietnamese and Australian PMs (third and second from right) at a working session of G7 Summit in Japan. (Photo: VGP) However, it needs more instructions of the twocountries’ leaders to achieve all of the set targets, particularly ininvestment, labour and culture.
Therefore, Thanh continued, the first officialtalks between the two PMs is hoped to outline new orientations for bilateraland multilateral cooperation, and identify cooperation priorities in the newperiod.
He held that the two countries would prioritisecooperation in climate change response, digital transformation, greendevelopment, clean energy and sustainable supply chain, as well as coordinationat the Mekong sub-region, ASEAN, and other regional and international forums,which are expected to become new cooperation pillars elevating theVietnam-Australia strategic partnership to a new height.
The two PMs are also scheduled to witness thesigning of some cooperation agreements in trade, finance, science-technologyand education-training, and the launching of new direct air routes.
Thanh said Vietnam has been pursuing a foreignpolicy of independence, self-reliance, and expanding, diversifying andmultilateralising international relations, while Australia has given morepriorities to relations with neighbouring countries and treasured its ties withthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Vietnam is amember.
The two countries share fundamental values likepeace, democracy, justice and equality, he said, adding that they have paidattention to regional interests and coordinated in such multilateral forumslike ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and the UnitedNations (UN).
Their comprehensive cooperation has been enhancedin all the Party, State and people-to-people exchange channels, and progresshas been made in key cooperation areas like economy, national defence-security,science-technology, human resources development and tourism.
Australia is now Vietnam’s seventh biggest tradingpartner, Thanh went on, emphasising Australia’s increasing official developmentassistance (ODA) to Vietnam, its donation of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as thecountry’s support in peacekeeping and high-quality personnel training.
On the occasion of the Australia visit by NAChairman Vuong Dinh Hue last year, the two sides announced their intention toupgrade the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership atan appreciate time.
The ambassador noted that PM Albanese's visit will create a new framework for the relations in all channels and furtherdeepen the strategic trust between the two countries, towards a common visionfor the next 50 years.
It is also expected to bring about breakthroughsin economic ties, and open up new cooperation opportunities in climate changeresponse, digital transformation and clean energy, while orienting cooperationbetween localities of the two countries more clearly, and deepening andadvancing multilateral collaboration, he said./.
VNA
