Australian Governor-General David Hurley (Photo: abc.net.au) In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, she said the visit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relations are important atthe governmental/diplomatic level and supported by those at other levels, adding that in thecase of Vietnam and Australia, their relations at the academic level have been highlysignificant.
According to her, when Doi Moi (Renewal) was started in Vietnamin the late 1980s, many talented Vietnamese scholars were chosen to come to theANU to undertake studies in “market economics”. These scholars were funded by theAustralian aid agency (AusAID), now part of the Australian Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Upon completion of their studies, they returned home totheir respective positions in the Vietnamese Government, academy anduniversities, and were largely responsible for implementing the various phasesof economic reforms which resulted in Vietnam's becoming a middle-incomecountry within about 20 years, and participating actively in regional andinternational organisations such as ASEAN and the World Trade Organisation.
Australian Government-funded scholarships in the region andin Vietnam in particular have been generally regarded as one of the mosteffective forms of development assistance, she added.
Vietnamese NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue at Vietnam-Australia Educational Cooperation Forum (Photo: VNA) There is room, however, for improvement in the export ofother services such as tourism and IT, as well as more investments in Vietnamon the part of the Australian business sector.
Meanwhile, schemes such as the New Colombo Plan haveenabled more than 4,500 undergraduate students from Australian universities tospend time in Vietnam learning about its people, culture, language and ways ofdoing business which should, in time, enhance business contacts and investmentflows.
The recent establishment of the Vietnam-Australia Centre at the Ho Chi MinhNational Academy of Politics in Hanoi is very much welcomed, and shows the degreeof goodwill and trust that has developed between the two countries, sheadded./.
VNA
