50 years of Vietnam-Australia relations: Towards a comprehensive strategic partnership

More than 50 years ago, on February 26, 1973, Vietnam and Australia officially established diplomatic relations. In 2009, the two countries established a comprehensive partnership and just 9 years later, in 2018, the relationship was upgraded to a strategic partnership. Since then, Vietnam and Australia have recognized the importance of each other in each other's foreign, security and economic policies.

50 years of Vietnam-Australia relations: Towards a comprehensive strategic partnership. Illustrative photo from the Internet.

Since Vietnam and Australia upgraded their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership in 2018, Australia has always attached great importance to Vietnam's role and position in the region and the world. In fact, Vietnam and Australia both have many opportunities and development potential, and there is still much room to exploit in bilateral cooperation based on each country's strengths. In the context of globalization and increased regional connectivity continuing to be the dominant trend of the international situation, the development trend of the Vietnam - Australia relationship is gradually shifting to a cooperative partnership for mutual development. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang, Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said: One of the models in current international relations is the Vietnam-Australia relationship, from a partnership to a strategic partnership and has many prospects for upgrading to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Vietnam has high expectations that the prospect of developing bilateral relations will be the foundation not only to promote peace in the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions, but also to create opportunities for the development of both Vietnam and Australia, contributing to shaping a new regional order in the coming time.

Over half a century of cooperation, the relationship between Vietnam and Australia has achieved many impressive achievements. At the international conference “50 years of Vietnam-Australia relations: Looking back and looking forward”, organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences in collaboration with the Australian Embassy on October 24, in Hanoi, the presentations affirmed that the two countries are continuing to work towards increasingly close cooperation, meeting the needs of each country as well as adapting to the new situation in the region and the world.

The presentations at the workshop all emphasized that the more than half-century of cooperation between Vietnam and Australia has affirmed that the Vietnam-Australia relationship is a testament to the strategic shift in international relations since the Cold War (1947-1991) to the present, when countries around the world have shifted their focus from confrontation to dialogue and promoted international economic cooperation. This relationship has always developed strongly and positively on the basis of a strong political relationship and mutual trust. Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski affirmed: There has never been a time in history when the relationship between our two countries has been as strong and developed as it is today. The bilateral relationship is built on strong trust as well as practical and effective cooperation in many fields. That is defense cooperation, education, trade or people-to-people exchange. This is an important link between the people of the two countries...

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski. Photo: Internet.

Both countries have an important position in each other's foreign strategy. Geopolitically, Australia highly values ​​Vietnam, because Vietnam has a geostrategic position in Southeast Asia, is a place of influence and is increasingly attracting the attention of major countries in the world. In its foreign strategy, Australia has repeatedly affirmed a peaceful, stable, prosperous, independent and sovereign Indo-Pacific region, in which Vietnam's role is indispensable. Meanwhile, the economic sector has witnessed a leap forward with impressive trade growth figures. Associate Professor, Dr. Ta Minh Tuan, Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, emphasized: "In just over 20 years, from 1991 to 2022, the bilateral trade value between the two countries has grown strongly, from 60 million USD to more than 15.7 billion USD. Currently, Vietnam has become Australia's 10th largest trading partner and Australia is Vietnam's 7th largest trading partner. Australia is also a leading development aid provider, making an important contribution to Vietnam's socio-economic development over the past decades.

A characteristic of the relationship between the two countries is that Australia has the largest number of Vietnamese people in the world. The Vietnamese community in Australia has about 350,000 people (ranked 5th among ethnic communities of foreign origin in Australia). In addition, there are about 31,000 Vietnamese students and researchers studying in Australia. This is an important bridge, not only in culture but also in trade, investment, and economic connection between businesses of the two countries.

In the context of globalization and increasing regional connectivity continuing to be the dominant trend of the international situation with the emergence of middle-sized countries with dynamically developing economies such as Vietnam and Australia, the development direction of the Vietnam - Australia relationship is gradually shifting from a one-way development assistance relationship to a cooperative partnership for mutual development, bringing the strategic partnership into depth and substance, meeting the interests and expectations of the people of the two countries.

Many analysts believe that the Australia-Vietnam relationship can become a model of “win-win” strategic cooperation between two different political and social regimes, between a middle power in the Asia-Pacific region and a country with an increasingly important role and position in Southeast Asia, aiming to promote strategic interests through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, towards upgrading the relationship between the two countries to a comprehensive strategic partnership in the near future./.