Hanoi (VNA)🔯 – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is paying an official visit to Vietnam on June 3-4 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh.

This is the first official visit to Vietnam by PM Albanese since he took office in May 2022. It is expected to contribute to the enhancement of trust between the two nations and deepening the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership.

Political and diplomatic relations develop strongly

Vietnam and Australia officially established diplomatic relationship in 1973. The bilateral relationship has enjoyed fruitful development steps, especially after the two nations upgraded their ties to a comprehensive partnership in 2009 and signed a joint statement on the enhanced comprehensive partnership in 2015. On the occasion of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s official visit to Australia in March 2018, the two countries officially upgraded their relations to a strategic partnership, ushering in a new page in the bilateral ties. The two sides have maintained trust and strengthened friendship, mutual understanding and respect through the exchange of delegations and meetings at both central and local levels and people-to-people friendship exchanges. Most recently, PM Chinh held phone talks with his Australian counterpart Albanese on October 18, 2022; PM Chinh and PM Phuc held separate phone talks with PM Scott Morrison on May 25, 2021 and January 21, 2021, respectively; National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue also had phone talks with Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Tony Smith on June 7, 2021. President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with PM Albanese on the sidelines of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Thailand in November 2022; President Vo Van Thuong met with Australian Governor-General David Hurley and PM Albanese at the coronation of the UK King Charles III in May 2023; Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan met with Governor-General David Hurley in the Philippines in August 2022. Previously, PM Chinh met with PM Morrison on the sidelines of the 26th United Nations Climate Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Scotland, the UK, in November 2021, where the two leaders approved Vietnam – Australia Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES) and a joint statement on commitment to practical climate action. PM Chinh also met with PM Albanese on the sidelines of the 41st ASEAN Summit in Cambodia in November 2022 and the expanded G7 Summit in Japan in May 2023.

Economic-commercial cooperation becomes increasingly effective

Over the past 50 years, the bilateral ties have seen practical and effective development, with economic and trade cooperation a bright spot. Two-way trade reached almost 15.7 billion USD in 2022, up nearly 27% from 2021. Australia is now the 7th largest trading partner of Vietnam while Vietnam is the 10th largest trading partner of Australia. The two countries signed the Vietnam – Australia Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES), under which they are working to bolster bilateral trade and investment cooperation. By the end of April 2023, Australia had 596 projects with combined registered capital of 1.99 billion USD, ranking 20th out of 143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. The Australian-invested projects focus mainly on the fields of processing, manufacturing, accommodation services, health care, social welfare and agro-forestry-fishery. Meanwhile, Vietnam had invested 592.3 million USD in 88 projects in Australia, concentrating on agriculture, forestry, retail and manufacturing. Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski said Vietnam is a very important economic partner of Australia. Australia and Vietnam are strategic partners in three pillars, including economic cooperation covering trade and investment; knowledge, innovation and education; and defence and strategic cooperation. According to the ambassador, the two leaders will talk about all these areas and how they can further develop cooperation in each of those. The visit of PM Albanese to Vietnam is an occasion for the two countries to not only review their 50-year cooperation but also discuss opportunities to lift bilateral relations to a new height./.