NA leader expects stronger Vietnam-Australia partnership

VOV.VN - National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has showed her appreciation for Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Vietnam visit, which she expected that it would represent a significant landmark in fostering the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership in all aspects, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) welcomes Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
On August 23, the top Vietnamese legislator met with visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Hanoi, during which Ngan affirmed the Vietnamese NA’s support for the strong development of relations with Australia, a partner with increasingly important stature in Asia-Pacific and the world.

She expressed her confidence that with an annual average economic growth of 2.5 - 3.5%, Australia will be successful in building a multicultural, modern and prosperous country, thus making positive contributions to peace, stability and development in the region and the wider world.

The top Vietnamese legislator hailed the growing bilateral ties, especially in trade and investment with two-way trade touching US$ 7.7 billion last year, up 19.3% year-on-year. The figure for the first half of this year hit US$3.84 billion.

As of June 2019, Australian investors injected US$1.86 billion into 458 projects, ranking 20th out of the 136 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese NA greatly values the Australian parliament’s support in successfully organizing recent international and regional inter-parliamentary conferences, including the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) held in January last year, Ngan told her guest.

The Australian PM, for his part, applauded the increasingly effective links between the two legislative bodies while affirming his nation’s support for Vietnam in performing its role as the Chair of ASEAN and Chair of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly next year.

Regarding the East Sea issue, host and guest underlined the importance of the countries’ continued efforts to settle disputes by peaceful means without the use of force or threat to use of force, in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Ngan thanked the Australian government for creating optimal conditions for more than 300,000 Vietnamese living and working there. Over 30,000 Vietnamese students are now studying in Australia. More than 380,000 Australian tourists visited Vietnam last year.

NA Chairwoman Ngan suggested that Morrison facilitate Vietnamese businesses’ investment in aviation in Australia as both sides boast huge potential for broader cooperation in this regard.

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