Australian PM said the upgrade of the Vietnam-Australia relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership aims to deepen cooperation between the two countries across fields such as climate change adaptation, energy transition, digital transformation, innovation, trade and investment, agriculture, defence, and education - training.

Albanese expressed his joy that the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has additional cooperation pillars in combating climate change, environment, and energy cooperation, as both countries have commitments to cutting emissions to net zero by 2050.

The two sides are seeking to intensify trade and investment collaboration to promote their economic prosperity, he said, adding that Australia is currently implementing its Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, which includes areas such as enhancing business linkages and promoting investment with Vietnam.

Both sides agreed to expand education - training and labour cooperation, while discussing the importance of enhancing collaboration to protect and promote security and stability in the region, including agreeing on a peacekeeping partnership and elevating the current Vice Ministerial Security Dialogue to the Ministerial level, the Australian PM said.

He emphasised that all initiatives and cooperation programmes must be maintained and further strengthened based on connections and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

PM Chinh congratulated Australia on the success of the ASEAN - Australia Special Summit. He appreciated Australia's support and cooperation for Vietnam's innovation, integration, and development, especially the provision of 26.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and the maintenance of official development assistance (ODA) support at a high level for the Southeast Asian nation.

Chinh stressed that the elevation of the bilateral relationship to comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Australia will contribute to further deepening bilateral cooperation, and meeting the common aspirations of their people, for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

With the new cooperation framework, the two nations will boost political trust and diplomacy; more comprehensive, substantive, and effective economic, trade, and investment cooperation; stronger cooperation in science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, and green transition; more comprehensive cooperation in culture, education, training, environmental protection, and climate change adaptation; stronger people-to-people exchange and connections between generations; more-shared security and defence cooperation towards peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world, he said.

Both sides agreed to deepen regional and international cooperation, continue to coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially the UN, ASEAN, and ASEAN-led mechanisms, promote peaceful dialogue and trust building among nations, uphold ASEAN's central role, and enhance cooperation mechanisms in the Mekong Sub-region.

Regarding the East Sea issue, both sides reaffirmed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation in the sea, and settling disputes through peaceful measures based on international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982); and agreed to exert efforts to make the East Sea the waters of peace, stability, comprehensive cooperation and development.

The two sides pledged to create favourable conditions and ensure legitimate rights and interests for the people and businesses of both countries to live, work, and study in each other's country.

PM Chinh expressed his belief that after the upgrade, the bilateral relations will enter a new chapter with more substantive, effective, and sustainable cooperation across various fields, for the sake of the two peoples, and significantly contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

Previously, the two PMs witnessed the signing and exchange of 11 cooperation documents between the two countries in the areas of education - training; energy and mining; agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; science -technology and innovation; labour and employment; trade, investment, finance, and banking; defence and peacekeeping; and justice.

Vietnamese, Australian Prime Ministers hold talks

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra on March 7 as part of his three-day official trip to the Oceanian country.

Welcoming PM Chinh, PM Albanese said the visit is of significance and is a milestone in the bilateral ties after the two countries set up their diplomatic relations 50 years ago.

He hailed the Vietnamese delegation’s positive contributions to the success of the ASEAN – Australia Special Summit held in Melbourne on March 5 and 6, while recalling his impressions of his official trip to Vietnam and his talks with PM Chinh in June 2023.

PM Chinh, for his part, conveyed Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s regards to PM Albanese, and congratulated Australia on the successful organisation of the special summit.

He believed that under the leadership of the Labour Party-led government and PM Albanese, Australia will continue to reap great achievements and increasingly affirm its role and position in the region and the world.

In the spirit of sincerity and trust, the two leaders expressed their delight at the strong development of the friendship and Strategic Partnership between the two countries and agreed to elevate the ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, while discussing and reaching consensus on close coordination to promote the bilateral cooperation to a deeper and more effective and practical way.

With a view to enhancing political and diplomatic trust, they agreed to promote exchange of delegations and contacts at high level, maintain bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and effectively realise the signed documents and prepare the action programme for 2024-2028. Besides, both nations will accelerate people-to-people exchanges, create favourable conditions for friendship associations to organise cultural, sport and charity events, and foster local cooperation and partnership in the fields of gender equality and protection of vulnerable groups.

Aiming for more inclusive, practical and effective economic, trade and investment cooperation, the two leaders were unanimous to facilitate market opening for each other’s agricultural products towards diversifying their supply chains.

PM Chinh asked Australia to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to do business and invest in the country, while welcoming Australia’s investments, especially high-quality ones with state-of-the-art technologies.

The two leaders consented to effectively carry out the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on science-technology and innovation, under which Australia will help Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises with technology transfer, and Australian tech firms cooperate with Vietnamese innovation centres and semiconductor producers.

They also agreed to strengthen cultural exchanges, promote cooperation in vocational training, increase the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students, and open branches of Australian universities in Vietnam.

The two nations will work together to promote green hydrogen production in Vietnam and join hands in climate change response. Australia will help the Southeast Asian country to realise its net-zero target by 2050.

 Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh holds talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra. (Photo: VNA)
Along with the existing sound cooperation, the two sides agreed to promote the signing of a cooperative agreement on tourism, making them the top travel markets of each other. They will soon implement an MoU on supporting Vietnamese citizens who work in the agricultural sector in Australia.

PM Chinh proposed the Australian Government create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Australia.

Touching on security-defence cooperation, they concurred to effectively carry out the Peacekeeping Partnership Arrangement, and continue close cooperation in education and training, prevention of cross-border crimes, information and experience sharing between the two armies' units, post-war recovery and national database building.

Discussing regional and international issues, the two PMs agreed to back each other and work closely at regional and international forums, especially the UN, ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms.

PM Chinh spoke highly of Australia’s stance that supports the respect for international law in the region and settlement of disputes in the East Sea via peaceful means in accordance with the international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.VNA