Participants at the meeting (Photo: The Ministry of Industry and Trade) During the 4th session of a trade working groupwithin the framework of the Ministerial-level Vietnam-Australia EconomicPartnership Meeting, the two sides focused on reviewing the implementation ofcooperation contents agreed at the 3rd session and discussed issues related to regional andmultilateral cooperation, as well as supply chain cooperation.
Both sides expressed their delight at theimpressive growth of bilateral trade recently. Australia became the 7th largest trade partner of Vietnam in 2022 with two-way trade hitting 15.7billion USD.
The positive results were attributed to efforts of both sides inpromoting economic and trade cooperation, fully tapping free trade agreements (FTAs). They include the AgreementEstablishing the ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand FreeTrade Area (AANZFTA), theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP). They have also implemented flexible policies of the two governments and relevant ministries.
The two sides agreed to speed up the implementation of importantcooperation, towards further promoting the bilateral trade ties in abalanced and sustainable manner, thus matching the strategic partnership betweenthe two nations.
Accordingly, the two sides will continue to promote marketopening and facilitation to the export of Vietnam's agricultural products such as passion fruit, pomelo, and fresh flowers. On the other side, honey, and reindeer and kangaroo meat will come from the Australian side.
Attention will be paid to boosting technical and investment cooperationin the field of agriculture; sharing experience in trade promotion, supply chainand transportation; and pushing the signing of a protocol amending the Vietnam – Australia aviation agreement.
The discussion and proposals at the event are aimed at bringing practicalbenefits to the business community of both sides, contributing to developing regionaland global value chains, supporting post-pandemic economic recovery, buildinga rules-basedmultilateral trading system, and promoting regional economic integration.
The two sides highly valued efforts by their relevantagencies in bolstering cooperation within EEES, especially in organising periodical dialogues on trade remedies.
The two memoranda of understanding (MOU) on establishing aministerial-level dialogue mechanism on trade, energy, and minerals betweenVietnam and Australia, which is expected to be inked in 2023, will create animportant exchange channel for government agencies and the business communityto expand cooperation activities in these areas.
The contents discussed and agreed upon at the session will be submitted to the Ministerial-level Vietnam-AustraliaEconomic Partnership Meeting, which is slated for mid-April this year.
Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that two-waytrade between Vietnam and Australia hit 2 billion USD in the first two monthsof 2023. Vietnam earned 769.4 million USD from exporting goods to Australia,while spending 1.2 billion USD on imports from the country./.
VNA
