Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s trip to attend the ASEAN - Australia Special Summit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the two sides’ dialogue relations and pay official visits to Australia and New Zealand holds special significance, said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet.
The trip from March 5 to 11 is made at the invitation of Australian PM Anthony Albanese and New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon.
Talking to the media, Viet said the first special thing of this tour is that 2024 marks 50 years since the establishment of the ASEAN - Australia dialogue relations, follows the 50th anniversary of Vietnam - Australia diplomatic ties in 2023, and is ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Southeast Asian country’s relations with New Zealand next year.
This is the first visits by a Vietnamese PM to Australia and New Zealand in seven years and also the first by Chinh to the two countries as the Government leader of Vietnam, Viet noted.
The second special thing is the sound relations between ASEAN and Australia over the past 50 years as seen in their increasingly enhanced political trust and fruitful partnerships in all fields, including trade, economic, cultural, and social affairs.
ASEAN countries considered Australia as one of the comprehensive strategic partners boasting substantive and effective cooperation with members of the bloc, the official said.
Given this, he went on, the summit is expected to be a good occasion for ASEAN and Australian leaders to review the 50-year bilateral relations, especially the implementation of their comprehensive strategic partnership set up in 2021.
This is also a chance for the leaders to discuss vision, orientations, and concrete measures for expanding ties in the time ahead. The two sides, particularly Australia, are set to propose new cooperation initiatives, thus creating more resources and basis for the ASEAN - Australia ties to grow more strongly in the coming time, according to Viet.
Highlighting the strides in the Vietnam - Australia relations over the last half a century, he said PM Chinh’s official visit is an occasion for the two countries to look back on the development of their ties, especially in the implementation of the bilateral strategic partnership as well as the high-level agreements reached during the Australian Governor-General and PM’s trips to Vietnam in 2023 and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s visit to Australia in 2022.
During this visit, the two sides are scheduled to outline cooperation orientations for the time ahead, with an emphasis on trade and investment; education - training, including vocational training; science - technology; innovation; and new impetuses like digital economy, green economy, energy transition, and renewable energy.
Besides, the countries will work towards elevating bilateral relations to a new height, he added.
Apart from Australia, New Zealand is also an important strategic partner of Vietnam in the South Pacific, Viet remarked, underlining the long-standing and fruitful connections in various fields such as education - training, gender equality, development, and agriculture.
During PM Chinh’s official visit, the two countries will continue exploring measures for further strengthening cooperation in such areas as trade, investment, people-to-people links, labour, education - training, and agriculture, particularly new technologies for agriculture and ways to expand their markets to each other’s high-quality agricultural products, the Deputy Minister noted.
