Australian Prime Minister visits Vietnam and makes important announcements

Albanese’s arrival is scheduled for Saturday noon, but the entire program of the visit will take place tomorrow and will begin with laying a wreath at the mausoleum of pro-independence hero Ho Chi Minh before attending the welcoming ceremony.

Afterwards, the distinguished visitor and his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Minh Chinh, will hold talks, witness the signing of MoUs and brief the press before the women’s football teams of the two countries meet.

In the evening, Albanese will receive successively Speaker of the National Assembly (Parliament) Phuong Dinh Hue, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vu Van Trung, and General Secretary of the Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trung.

The Australian prime minister will return home Sunday evening after making several important announcements, as expected by that country’s ambassador here, Andrew Golidzinowski, who highlighted the importance of the visit, which takes place in the year of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

The diplomat stressed that Vietnam and Australia are strategic partners in three areas: economic cooperation, knowledge and innovation, defense and strategic cooperation, and announced that on this occasion cooperation in energy transfer and response to climate change will also be discussed.

He added, in statements to VNA news agency, that the two countries have intensified their cooperation in UN peacekeeping operations, and in particular, their armies have carried out skills training and exchange of experiences.

The two sides also conducted effective dialogues on various issues, including the East Sea, sovereignty, territorial integrity and law, and showed strong support for the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), recall.

Vietnam and Australia established diplomatic relations on February 26, 1973 and entered into a comprehensive partnership in 2009. In 2015 it was renamed the Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership and in March 2018 it became a strategic partnership that both countries hope to achieve in a timely comprehensive strategic partnership.

Currently, there are more than 20 bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and trade between the two sides reached $15.7 billion in 2022, an increase of 26.7 percent over the previous year, making the peripheral country Vietnam’s tenth largest trading partner.

Australia has more than 550 investment projects in Vietnam valued at nearly $2 billion, while the Southeast Asian country has 80 investments there worth $600 million.

RO / MB