NA Chairman's Australia, New Zealand visits to propel ties with strategic partners
Hanoi (VNA) – A high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese National Assembly, led by its Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, will pay
official visits to Australia and New Zealand from November 30 to December 7 at
the invitations of Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Milton
Dick, President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines and Speaker of the New
Zealand House of Representatives Adrian Rurawhe.
Australia is a
strategic partner of Vietnam in the South Pacific. Cooperation between the two
countries is developing effectively in various areas while the exchange of
delegations and high-level meetings has been maintained.
Bilateral cooperation
mechanisms are flexibly deployed in both face-to-face and online formats. Most recently,
Vietnam conducted the fourth foreign ministerial-level meeting with Australia in
September and is promoting the organisation of the third Vietnam-Australia Prime Ministers’
Meeting. The bilateral Plan of Action for the 2020-2023 period has reaped
concrete results.
Despite impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic last
year, two-way trade grew nearly 50% to 12.4 billion USD. The figure soared
by 31.5% annually in the first nine months of this year to 12 billion USD.
On October 25,
Australia announced its budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Accordingly, the
country will increase ODA for Vietnam to 92.8 million AUD compared to 78.9
million AUD in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
In the fight against
COVID-19, Australia provided over 26.4 million vaccine doses for Vietnam,
including 12 million doses for adults and over 14.4 million for children,
becoming the second biggest vaccine provider for Vietnam, behind the US.
Collaboration in national defence, security, education-training, labour, and agriculture is developing fruitfully. Notably, the two
countries have paid attention to advancing new cooperation fields such as climate
change response, digital transformation and energy transition.
Australia expressed its wish to upgrade the bilateral relations on the occasion of the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties next year.
Cooperative ties between the Vietnamese NA and the Parliament of Australia have also been
developing, both bilaterally and multilaterally, making important contributions to
the relationship between the two nations. The 15th Vietnamese legislature
established the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group in
October.
Though the exchange of
high-level visits and exchanges between committees and friendship parliamentarians groups were disrupted by COVID-19 during 2019-2021, both sides shared information on legislation,
supervision and decided on important national issues via phone talks. They also
agreed to strengthen their coordination and direct ministries, agencies, localities
and enterprises to carry out agreements signed between the two countries,
contributing to deepening the bilateral strategic partnership in a more practical and effective manner.
At regional and global inter-parliamentary forums, the two countries’ lawmakers
also offered mutual support on regional and global issues of shared concern.
New Zealand is also a strategic partner of Vietnam in South Pacific, with the bilateral ties growing in different fields. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exchange of delegations was suspended during 2021-2022 but high-level conversations have been still maintained and
bilateral cooperation mechanisms have been deployed in both online and offline forms.
The 2021-2024 Action
of Plan with New Zealand to realise the bilateral strategic partnership has seen
positive results.
In economic terms, Vietnam and New Zealand are both members of the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
and the Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). New Zealand is now the
36th largest trading partner of Vietnam. Two-way trade reached 1.3
billion USD last year, up 26.7% year-on-year. The figure increased by 13.6% year on year to 1.1 billion USD in the first nine months of this year.
New Zealand also approved the supply of ODA worth 26.7 million NZD for Vietnam
during 2021-2024, equivalent to the sum in the 2018-2021 period. The country also supplied
30,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses and 2 million NZD in post-pandemic relief aid to Vietnam.
There remains ample
room to further boost coordination in national defence, security, education-training,
labour and agriculture. In particular, the two countries are interested in new
cooperation areas such as climate change response, digital transformation and
energy transition.
Though few visits were paid due to COVID-19, leaders of the two legislatures still maintained
all-level meetings on the sidelines of regional and international conferences.
At regional and gblobal inter-parliamentary forums, the two countries’ delegations
of lawmakers regularly discussed and supported each other on regional and
national issues of mutual concern. The 15th Vietnamese NA continued
to establish the Vietnam - New Zealand Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group and
maintained information exchange with the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam.
Talking with the press ahead of the visits, Chairman of the Vietnamese NA's Committee
for External Relations Vu Hai Ha said during the upcoming trips, Chairman Hue is scheduled to
hold talks with senior leaders of Australia and New Zealand to discuss measures to promote their bilateral
ties in various areas, particularly cooperation between the lawmaking bodies, and exchange views on regional and global issues of shared concern.
Aiming to deploy the foreign policy of the 13th National Party
Congress, the visits to Australia and New Zealand will be the first by a senior leader since Vietnam and the two countries
fully reopened their doors following the pandemic and also the first made by Hue in
his capacity as Chairman of the Vietnamese NA./.