Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son welcomed and held a bilateral meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

On the morning of August 22, at the Ministry's headquarters, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son welcomed Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and co-chaired the 5th Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Bùi Thanh Sơn đón, họp song phương với Bộ trưởng Ngoại giao Australia Penny Wong

This is the second time Minister Penny Wong has visited Vietnam, following her visit in May 2022 - just one month after she took office as Foreign Minister. And in just over a year in her new position, Minister Penny Wong has met with Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son four times, as she affirms that Australia's future is tied to the future of Southeast Asia.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong's visit to Vietnam takes place in the context of many activities between the two countries to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1973-2023). In particular, the visit of Australian Governor-General David Hurley (April 2023) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (June 2023).

Regarding cooperation between the two Foreign Ministries, the two sides have a Foreign Ministers consultation mechanism that began in 2018 and has had 4 meetings so far. In this 5th meeting, the two sides will review the implementation of the results of recent high-level visits, especially in the fields of economics - trade, national defense and security, education and training, labor, and agriculture, and propose directions to promote relations in the coming time.

To date, Vietnam and Australia have had more than 20 flexibly maintained bilateral cooperation mechanisms. In addition to the Foreign Ministers' Conference, other important mechanisms include the annual meeting of the two Prime Ministers, the two Defense Ministers, the Economic Partnership Conference, and cooperation between localities.

Cooperation documents between the two countries, especially the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership Action Plan for the 2020-2023 period, are being actively implemented and have achieved many results. In the photo: Foreign Minister Penny Wong writes in the golden book of souvenirs opened at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Currently, economic and trade cooperation is a priority area in developing relations between Vietnam and Australia. The two countries participate in many economic cooperation frameworks, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA).

The two sides are implementing the Australia-Vietnam Economic Cooperation Enhancement Strategy. The Australian Government is developing the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, considering Vietnam a centerpiece of this strategy.

In 2022, Vietnam-Australia two-way trade turnover had a breakthrough growth, reaching a new record of 15.7 billion USD, up 26.91% over the previous year. Vietnam became Australia's 10th largest trading partner for the first time and Australia is currently Vietnam's 7th largest trading partner.

The land of kangaroos is currently one of the largest bilateral partners providing non-refundable ODA to Vietnam, with a total of 3 billion AUD (about 47,000 billion VND) to date. On behalf of the Vietnamese Government, Minister Bui Thanh Son thanked the Australian Government for increasing ODA development assistance to Vietnam to 95.1 million AUD for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

It can be said that since establishing diplomatic relations in February 1973 and upgrading to Strategic Partnership in March 2018, Vietnam-Australia relations are developing more strongly than ever.

Generations of leaders and people of the two countries have together gone through a long journey of half a century to develop bilateral relations to a level that few people could have imagined at the time of establishing diplomatic relations.