NA leader leaves Hanoi for visits to Australia, New Zealand

These visit are made at invitations by Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Milton Dick, President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines, and Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Adrian Rurawhe.

The Vietnamese NA leader's visits take place in the context that both Australia and New Zealand are accelerating economic recovery and carrying out a lot of external activities.

This marks the first trip by a Vietnamese high-ranking leader to Australia and New Zealand since Vietnam and the two nations fully reopened their doors after the pandemic, and also Hue’s first official tour of the two countries as the NA Chairman.

Over the past time, bilateral relations between Vietnam and Australia have developed very well, especially since the two countries established the strategic partnership in 2017. Political relations have become closer and more reliable through the exchange of delegations and meetings on all channels, including Party, National Assembly and Government, people-to-people exchanges.

Cooperation in economics, trade and investment has showed positive signs, with  two-way trade turnover growing strongly despite being affected by the pandemic. Last year's bilateral trade and nine-month period reached US$12.4 billion,  and US$12 billion, up nearly 50% and 31.5% on-year, respectively.

Australia has always provided Vietnam with a stable source of ODA. Recently, the country announced the budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, according to which, Australia has increased its ODA for Vietnam to AUD92.8 million.

Cooperation in other fields such as security, defence, education-training, agriculture, and labour also achieved plenty of encouraging results. Along with the good results in the two countries' relations, the cooperation between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the Parliament of Australia has also seen positive developments.

The official visit to Australia by NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue will help strengthen the relationship between the two legislative bodies,  opening up prospects and creating fresh impetus for the increasingly practical and effective cooperation between the two countries across a variety of fields, and bringing practical benefits to the people of the two countries.

Meanwhile, New Zealand is a strategic partner of Vietnam in South Pacific, with the bilateral ties growing in different fields. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exchange of delegations was suspended during 2021-2022 but high-level conversations have been still maintained and bilateral cooperation mechanisms have been deployed in both online and offline forms.

The 2021-2024 Action of Plan with New Zealand to implement the bilateral strategic partnership has seen positive results.

In economic terms, Vietnam and New Zealand are both members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). New Zealand is now the 36th largest trading partner of Vietnam. Two-way trade hit US$1.3 billion last year, up 26.7% year-on-year. The figure expanded by 13.6% year on year to US$1.1 billion during the past  nine months of this year.

New Zealand also approved the supply of ODA worth 26.7 million NZD for Vietnam during 2021-2024, equivalent to the sum in the 2018-2021 period. 

Though few visits were made due to COVID-19, leaders of the two legislatures still maintained all-level meetings on the sidelines of regional and international conferences.

The trip is viewed as an opportunity to reinforce friendship and strategic partnerships with Vietnam’s two key partners in the South Pacific region which are also two important partners of ASEAN; promote post-COVID-19 cooperation across a variety of fields, especially collaboration between legislative bodies, and exchange and share views on regional and international issues of shared concern.