Australia, Vietnam strive for US$20 billion trade turnover target

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a reception on August 27 in Hanoi for President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines to mark the occasion of her official visit to Vietnam.

The Government chief welcomed and highly appreciated the Senate President as the first senior Australian leader to visit the country since the two sides upgraded their relations to that of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March.

He extended his regards to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, once again thanking the Australian Government for its sincere sentiments towards late Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, especially thanking the President of the Senate for personally attending the State funeral of the former Party leader.

The host leader expressed his delight at the strong, comprehensive, and substantive development of the joint relationship and emphasized that upgrading the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is the result of efforts made by both sides over more than 50 years of developing diplomatic ties.

Simultaneously, it serves to open up a new chapter in joint ties, with higher political trust, co-operation in a wider scope and level in the spirit of "6 mores" as the PM stressed during his recent official visit to Australia.
For her part, Senate President Lines highlighted Vietnam as an important partner, adding that the Australian Government and Parliament have given high priority to their overall foreign policy in the region.

She emphasized that the two countries share many similarities, enjoy high strategic trust, whilst the bilateral relationship has come a long way to achieve the very good results it has today.

At the same time, she affirmed that this serves as the foundation for both nations to further augment collaboration moving forward, thereby meeting the needs and aspirations of the two countries’ people.

The cabinet leader went on to thank Australia for implementing many practical and effective co-operation projects, supporting Vietnam in many areas from national defence - security, capacity building, science and technology, innovation, and climate change.

He suggested the two sides actively co-ordinate to concretise high-level agreements that have been reached, while continuing to deepen linkages within the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Host and guest consented to continue promoting dialogue, information sharing, mutual understanding, and trust; deepening defence and security co-operation;  bolstering economic ties more effectively, including stepping up investment and trade promotion, striving to soon bring the trade turnover target to US$20 billion, and doubling two-way investment over the next two to three years.

The two countries are set to carry out activities in new and potential fields such as the green economy, the digital economy, the circular economy, as well as developing ties inn digital transformation, science and technology, and innovation.

PM Chinh thanked Australia for continuing to support English training for officers and Vietnamese participation in UN peacekeeping operations. The two leaders also agreed to enhance people-to-people exchanges and co-operation between localities as a contribution to enhancing mutual understanding between the people of the two countries.

The President of the Australian Senate affirmed that Australia always pays attention to and creates favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the host country, noting the request to facilitate visa issuance for Vietnamese citizens and international students to Australia.

The two leaders noted that amid the complex and unpredictable developments in the regional and international situation, with many new security and strategic challenges arising, affecting the security and development environment of countries in the region in many ways, the two sides need to strengthen consultation, information sharing, policy assessment, and co-ordination. This is along with close collaboration at regional and international forums, making positive contributions to building a peaceful, stable, co-operative, and prosperous Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean region, with ASEAN playing a central role.

Senate President Lines affirmed Australia's consistent stance on the East Sea issue, supporting the principled stance of Vietnam and ASEAN in ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation; resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).