PM Pham Minh Chinh (R) and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese during Vietnam visit (Photo: VNA) Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse are scheduledto attend a special summit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN - Australia dialogue relations, and pay an official visitto Australia starting March 5 at theinvitation of his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
Talking to Vietnam News Agency ahead of thetrip, Hal Hill, an emeritus professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the AustralianNational University, said the two countries now share close relations,the Vietnamese community in Australia is relatively large, while bilateraltrade has been growing strongly over the recent past.
He noted that Australia views Vietnam as an economic “star”in Asia. From one of the world’s poorest countries in the 1980s, since the Doimoi (Renewal) policy was implemented, especially in this century, Vietnam hasemerged as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia. Besides, from alow-income nation, it has become a middle-income economy attractive to manyinternational investors.
In the future, the Southeast Asian nation islikely to welcome more investors from around the world, he opined, expressinghis optimism about the future of its economy though challenges are still ahead.
Hal Hill added that to him, Vietnam is one of highlyimpressive success stories.
Speaking highly of the development of Vietnam and itsrelations with Australia, Greg Earl, former member of the Australia - ASEAN Counciland former Southeast Asia correspondent at The Australian Financial Review, perceived that thetwo countries’ relations form one of the most outstanding chapters of Australia’sforeign policy towards to the region in recent years.
Vietnamand Australia have found out more space for cooperation in both security andeconomic affairs, with their cooperation speed much faster than many people’spredictions. Vietnam has established itself as a stable and trustworthydiplomatic partner, he went on.
TheVietnamese community in Australia has also played a major role in promotingbilateral cooperation and enhancing the two countries’ cohesion, the expert said.
To maintain and further bolster the current soundrelations, Earl suggested that the two countries step up connections withinbilateral as well as ASEAN - Australia frameworks to strengthen economic andsecurity ties. They should also foster people-to-people exchanges in the fieldsof education and employment.
Basing on the areas both countries are interested in, theyshould form reciprocal economic links like the connections Australia has hadwith North Asian countries, according to the expert./.
VNA
