PM departs Hanoi for ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, visits to Australia, NZ
VOV.VN - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his wife, and a high-ranking delegation left Hanoi on the morning of March 4 for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Australia dialogue relations and official visits to Australia and New Zealand from March 5 to March 11.
The trip comes following an invitation by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon.
The ASEAN-Australia Special Summit is viewed as an opportunity for the two sides to review mutual relations over the past five decades and discuss measures aimed at strengthening the substantive and effective development of ties in line with the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established in 2021.
The working trip will see PM Chinh pay official visits to Australia and New Zealand. This marks the first official visit by PM Chinh to Australia and New Zealand in his new position, whilst also being the PM’s first tour of the two countries after more than seven years.
The visit is expected to contribute to consolidating political trust, deepening all-around co-operation, and enhancing the country’s ties with Australia and New Zealand across a multitude of areas, such as politics, diplomacy, security, defence, economics, trade, investment, ODA, education - training, culture - tourism, and labour.
In the period between the two special summits, the bilateral relationship with Australia has developed in leaps and bounds. In 2018, the two countries upgraded bilateral ties to a strategic partnership. Just four years later, on the occasion of National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue's visit to Australia, leaders of the two countries agreed to consider upgrading the relationship to that of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), indicating the importance and potential for broader bilateral co-operation.
The focus areas of the 2024 Summit reflects the shared priorities in joint ties. The Australian side wishes to upgrade the bilateral relationship to that of a comprehensive strategic partnership and strengthen co-operation in important areas, including climate change, digital transformation, trade and investment, and key minerals and education.
Both sides are connected through the bonds between people and families. Indeed, in Australia Vietnamese is the fourth most commonly used language and it is also home to more than 350,000 people of Vietnamese origin, contributing to Australia's cultural diversity.
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese students have benefited from Australia's commitment to education in Vietnam, through RMIT University's significant contributions to developing Vietnamese education capacity.
Regarding the relationship with New Zealand, the two countries have maintained and all-level delegation exchanges. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries resumed high-level visits, such as through the visit to Vietnam by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in November, 2022, and the NZ visit by NA Chairman Hue in December, 2022.
In terms of economics and trade, the country is New Zealand's 14th largest trading partner, of which the nation is the 13th exporter to this market and is also the 17th largest importer of New Zealand.
Two-way trade turnover has grown steadily over the years, rising from US$300 million in 2009 to US$750 million in 2013. Bilateral trade turnover reached US$1.4 billion in 2022 and US$1.3 billion in 2023, a drop of about 5.6% compared to 2022.
As of November, 2023, New Zealand was running 52 investment projects in the Vietnamese market with a total capital of US$208.35 million, ranking 39th out of 143 countries and territories investing in the nation, with a particular focus on real estate business, education and training, the manufacturing and processing industry, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, administrative operations and support services, and construction.
New Zealand provides the Vietnamese side with stable ODA and increases the funding each year. It commits to providing the nation with NZD26.7 million in non-refundable ODA for the 2021 to 2024 period, focusing on the fields of agriculture, climate change adaptation, education, and COVID-19 pandemic response.
The official visits to Australia and New Zealand by PM Chinh, his wife, and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation will add fresh impetus and further deepen the strategic partnership with Australia and New Zealand, thereby continuing to implement the consistent foreign policy set out by the 13th national Party Congress.
