At the talks between Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu and Deputy Secretary for Southeast Asia and Global Partners Group at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Katrina Cooper. (Photo: Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs) During his talks in Hanoi with Katrina Cooper, Deputy Secretaryfor Southeast Asia and Global Partners Group at the Australian Department ofForeign Affairs and Trade, Vu stressed that Vietnam highly values itsstrategic partnership with Australia.
He thanked Australia for its timely supply of 7.8 milliondoses of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical materials, becoming Vietnam’ssecond biggest vaccine donor.
For her part, Cooper, who is paying a visit to Vietnamfrom March 2-4, said Australia always highly appreciates Vietnam’s role and positionin the region.
She affirmed Australia's efforts to promote the strategicpartnership in all cooperation pillars, especially as the two nations will celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2023.
The two officials shared the view that despite theCOVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam and Australia have maintained all-level meetings, andregularly and flexibly implemented bilateral cooperation mechanisms.
Economic and trade collaboration continued to be abright spot in the bilateral relations, with two-way trade reaching 12.4 billion USD in2021, up nearly 50 percent year-on-year.
Host and guest also compared notes on specificmeasures to enhance cooperation in such spheres as national defence-security,education-training, official development assistance (ODA), green growth,high-tech agriculture, climate change response and Mekong collaboration, alongwith new pillars, towards the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnershipat an appropriate time.
Regarding the East Sea issue, both officials held that disputes must be addressed peacefully in line with international law, particularly the1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
They also exchanged views on other regional and internationalissues of shared concern./.
VNA
