National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (middle), President of the Senate Sue Lines (right) and Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick (left). (Photo: VNA) Canberra (VNA) – National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue has affirmed that his ongoing Australia visit aims to further deepen the strategic partnership and cooperation between the two legislatures, not only bilaterally but also at multilateral forums, towards the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Australia diplomatic relations next year.
Hue, who has been on an official visit to Australia from November 30 to December 3, made the statement during his talks with President of the Senate Sue Lines and Speaker of the House of Representatives Milton Dick in Canberra on November 30.
Both sides shared the view that the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership has been growing steadily, practically, effectively and evenly in all spheres, from politics - foreign affairs, economy-trade-investment, and national defence-security, to education, agriculture and labour.
In particular, the exchange of high-level delegations and meetings has been maintained regularly while bilateral cooperation mechanisms have been flexibly deployed both online or in-person. Two-way trade surpassed 10 billion USD for the first time to 12.4 billion USD in 2021 and 13.4 billion USD in the first ten months of this year. As of September, Australia had invested in 577 projects valued at 1.97 billion USD in Vietnam.
Hue thanked Australia for increasing the supply of official development assistance to Vietnam by 18% to 93 million AUD (62.5 million USD) in the 2022-2023 fiscal year as well as assisting Vietnam in the fight against COVID-19 by donating 26.4 million doses of vaccine to adults and children via bilateral channels and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), along with other medical supplies.
The two sides agreed to facilitate high-level visits via Party, State, parliament channels and people-to-people exchanges, jointly hold activities to celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2023, and speed up the implementation of the bilateral Plan of Action for the 2020-2023 period and other deals.
The two countries will step up collaboration in national defence-security, agriculture, education-training, tourism and culture while expanding cooperation in new fields such as climate change response, green growth, energy transition, digital transformation and digital economy.
As room for economic cooperation remains large, the leaders held that the two legislatures will facilitate the exchange of goods, especially opening the door for each other’s farm produce, expanding and accessing markets for their enterprises; working closely with competent agencies to effectively implement the 2021-2025 Plan of Action under the Vietnam-Australia Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES).
Dick promised to encourage Australian corporations and businesses to enhance investment in Vietnam in areas of their strength such as renewable energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, finance-banking, manufacturing, services, education, tourism, high-tech agriculture, climate change response, sci-tech, supply chain, mining and aviation.
The Vietnamese leader suggested Australia create conditions for Vietnamese businesses to increase investment in the country in the fields of agriculture, mining, and aviation, while accelerating the issuance of visas for Vietnamese agricultural workers to work in Australia.
He also proposed Australia help Vietnam fulfill its commitments to net zero emissions by 2050 made at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26), and continue with cooperation and stable supply of coal and liquefied natural gas to help Vietnam ensure energy security.
The leaders expressed their satisfaction with Vietnam-Australia close coordination in issues of shared concern at international forums and organisations, including the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.
On this occasion, Hue thanked Australia for backing Vietnam in its capacity as Vice President of the UN General Assembly's 77th session representing Asia-Pacific and a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 tenure.
He also agreed with the Australian leaders to support the upgrade of the bilateral strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership when relevant procedures are completed for the benefit of the people of the two nations and for peace, cooperation and development in the region.
In the near future, they pledged to continue maintaining the exchange of visits by senior leaders of the two legislative bodies, step up the sharing of legislation and supervision experience, create favourable conditions for the two countries' Friendship Parliamentarians Groups to operate; direct ministries, agencies, localities and enterprises to implement signed agreements; maintain consultation, coordination and mutual support at multilateral cooperation mechanisms, regional and global parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), thus making positive contributions to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
The Vietnamese NA Chairman suggested the Australian Parliament continue assisting and creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Australia to stabilise their lives, well integrate into the host society and serve as bridges for the ties between the two countries.
On the occasion, Hue invited Lines and Dick to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time.
Concluding the talks, the leaders signed a cooperation agreement between the Vietnamese NA and the Australian Parliament with new and wide-ranging cooperation contents./.
