President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines (Photo: VNA) Lines said that NA Chairman Hue will become the first guest of the new-tenureparliament of Australia, describing it as a reflection of the strong relationshipbetween Australia and Vietnam.
She expressed delight that the Vietnamese top legislator’svisit will have a strong focus on education, as Vietnam is a priority partner of Australia in this field.
The visit is continuing a high tempo of the high-level visits between Australia and Vietnam,she said. The Prime Ministers of the two countries had a meeting on thesidelines of the recent East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh. Australia’s Deputy PMand Minister for Defence visited Hanoi this month, while the ForeignMinister of Australia met her Vietnamese counterpart in Canberra in September forthe annual Foreign Minister’s Meeting.
Lines noted that over the past nearly 50 years, the twocountries have shared growing relations, especially since they lifted up theirties to a strategic partnership in 2018. The two sides have worked closely infighting the COVID-19 pandemic and speeding up post-pandemic economic recovery through thestrengthening of trade and investment cooperation within the Australia –Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy.
She held that parliament exchange has been an importantelement of the bilateral relations.
The Vietnam Parliamentary Friends Group has one of the largest memberships inthe Australian Parliament with 57, she noted, adding thatthis demonstrates the keen interest of the Australian parliament has inunderstanding Vietnam, working closer with the country, and shows the strength ofthe overarching bilateral relationship.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has also focused on fostering theconnections between the two peoples, she said, noting that Vietnamese iscurrently one of the most spoken language in Australia.
Regarding the role of the potential cooperation areas of the two parliaments inthe coming time and the role of the Australia-Vietnam FriendshipParliamentarians’ Group in the promotion of bilateral ties, Lines said that oneof the major tasks of the Groupis to invite speakers and experts from Vietnam to discuss issues of sharedconcern such as the joint organisation of Vietnamese cultural activities inAustralia and academic exchanges, aiming to give Australian parliamentarians a betterunderstanding of the nation, people, culture and tradition of Vietnam.
At a hope to increase the diversity and representation inthe Australian parliament, Australia hopes for more engagement from theVietnamese community in the country, she said.
The Australian Senate leader said that her country is keen onexpanding cooperation between the two parliaments to economy and people’sdiplomacy. To this end, Australia has worked with the Vietnamese NA intechnical support projects such as assisting the NA Economic Committee to draftan anti-money laundry law.
In the time to come, the Australian side is willing to workwith the Vietnamese NA in the fields of training through the Australia-VietnamCentre, she said.
The official said through the Vietnamese NA Chairman’svisit, Australia hopes to listen to new ideas and proposals from Vietnam infurther enhancing the cooperation between the two countries in general and thetwo parliaments in particular to respond to common challenges together./.
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