Namsaid Vietnam is actively working to welcome Australian Prime Minister MalcomTurnbull to the country to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) EconomicLeaders’ Meeting in November in the central city of Da Nang.
Heasked for joint preparations for the Australia visit by Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc to attend the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit scheduled for March 2018,considering it an important milestone in the year marking the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.
Hailingthe Declaration on Enhancing the Australia-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnershipissued in 2015 and the Vietnam-Australia Action Programme for 2016-2019, Namvowed to do his best to boost ties between the two countries in his newposition, bilaterally and multilaterally as well as work closely withVietnamese and Australian agencies to prepare for high-level visits and eventsin localities during 2018.
Cosgrove,for his part, said Australia wants to further develop ties on bilateral aspectand regional and global issues of shared concern, towards lifting bilateralcomprehensive partnership to a greater height for the sake of peace, stabilityand prosperity in Asia-Pacific.
Australiais currently one of Vietnam’s leading economic partners and importers withtwo-way trade of nearly 6 billion USD in 2016. Meanwhile, Vietnam provides thelargest source of students for Australia among ASEAN member states with morethan 30,000 people.
Thetwo countries have actively negotiated cooperation agreements and regional andglobal economic linkage mechanisms such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership andthe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Vietnamand Australia have worked effectively at regional and global forums,particularly the East Asia Summit (EAS), the APEC, the Asia-Europe Meeting(ASEM), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defence Ministerial MeetingPlus (ADMM ), the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), and the United Nationsforums.-VNA