President Vo Van Thuong hosts Australian Prime Minister

The Vietnamese State leader applauded Australia's provision of stable official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam and its support in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic through timely grant of vaccines in large quantities.

In response, PM Albanese affirmed that Vietnam has always been Australia's top priority partner in the region and desires to constantly develop cooperative ties with the Southeast Asian nation, adding that Vietnam will have a priority position in a Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 that the Australian Government is developing.

Host and guest rejoiced at the tremendous achievements of the bilateral ties across a variety of fields, especially politics-foreign affairs, security-defence, economy-trade-investment, education-training, culture, tourism, sports, labour, science-technology, and people-to-people and locality-to-locality exchanges.

They consented to further enhance political trust, considering it an important basis for the elevation of the bilateral relations to new heights in the time ahead.

Albanese informed his host on Australia’s decision to grant AUD105 million (US$69.51 million ) for Vietnam serving cooperation in climate change response and energy transition; the RMIT University’s increase of investment in Vietnam to AUD250 million; and the Western Sydney University’s granting of scholarships for Vietnamese and regional students.

The Australian PM said he welcomes the opening of more direct routes to major Australian cities by Vietnamese carriers Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet, which he said contributes to bolstering economic and tourism cooperation, and exchange activities between the two peoples.

President Thuong suggested Australia create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Australia to preserve the language, traditions, and culture of their home country, and for Vietnamese students to complete visa procedures and study.

He also proposed Australia establish more branches of its major universities in Vietnam, and soon implement the revised memorandum of understanding on the Australian Agriculture Visa programme.

Vietnam stays ready to provide skilled workers in the industrial, agricultural and service sectors for Australia, and welcomes Australian citizens to participate in the Vietnamese work and holiday programme, he added.

Regarding regional and international issues, the two sides agreed to continue to support each other and work hand in hand at regional and international forums, especially the UN, APEC, ASEAN and other ASEAN-led mechanisms. Albanese reaffirmed Australia's stance of respecting the rule of law in the region and settling disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).