Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met the press and announced the establishment of the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

In front of officials from both countries, Vietnamese, Australian and international reporters, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his delight at welcoming Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife to an official visit to Australia; saying that he and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had just had a very successful meeting.

The two sides assessed that Vietnam and Australia have built a sustainable, cooperative and friendly partnership based on political trust and mutual respect; sharing a common vision for an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

The upgrading of Vietnam-Australia relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership aims to promote deep, substantive and effective cooperation between the two countries in areas such as climate change response, energy transition, digital transformation, innovation, trade and investment, agriculture, defense, education and training, etc.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his delight that the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has added several pillars on climate change cooperation, environment and energy cooperation, while both Australia and Vietnam have committed to net zero emissions by 2050.

The two sides also established an annual dialogue mechanism between trade ministers; agreed to strengthen monitoring of the impact of climate change on the marine environment; and made digital transformation, science, technology and innovation cooperation a new pillar in the bilateral relationship.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the two sides are interested in strengthening trade and investment cooperation to promote economic prosperity between the two countries; he was pleased that the trade turnover between Vietnam and Australia in 2023 reached 25.7 billion AUD, an increase of 75% compared to 2020 and Vietnam became a major trade partner of Australia.

The Australian Prime Minister said that Australia is implementing the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, which includes a number of areas such as strengthening business links and promoting investment between the two sides. At the same time, as the Prime Minister announced the Special Summit to celebrate 50 years of ASEAN-Australia relations, which also includes a program to enhance investment promotion and support for Australian technology companies in Vietnam to be able to increase investment, further research new markets, etc.

The two sides discussed and agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of education, training, labor and employment; and discussed the importance of strengthening cooperation to protect and promote security and stability in the region, including agreeing on a partnership agreement on peacekeeping; and raising the security dialogue between Vietnam and Australia to the ministerial level.

The Australian Prime Minister said that all cooperation initiatives and programs must be maintained and further strengthened based on the links and exchanges between the two countries' people. With 350,000 people of Vietnamese origin living in Australia and Vietnamese being the fourth most spoken language in Australia, the connections between the two countries spanning generations and geographical areas, the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will be effectively implemented.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Government Delegation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sincerely thanked the Australian Government and people for their warm and thoughtful welcome and affection.

The Prime Minister was pleased and congratulated Australia on its impressive achievements in economic recovery and development after the COVID-19 pandemic, actively improving social security for the people, and making positive contributions to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world; and congratulated Australia on successfully organizing the Special Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-Australia diplomatic relations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sincerely thanked and highly appreciated Australia's active support and cooperation for Vietnam's innovation, integration and development process, especially its provision of 26.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, being one of the countries providing the most vaccine support, leading in vaccines for children and maintaining high levels of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam.

The Prime Minister said that at the very successful talks, he and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, on behalf of the two governments, announced the upgrading of Vietnam-Australia relations to the highest level - Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that this new framework will contribute to strengthening and deepening the cooperative relationship, meeting the common aspirations of the people of the two countries, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

With this new framework of relations between the two countries, the Prime Minister summarized and added "6 more points" including: Higher political and diplomatic trust; More inclusive, substantive and effective economic, trade and investment cooperation; Promoting stronger cooperation in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and green transformation; More comprehensive and profound cooperation in culture, education and training, environment and climate change response; More open and sincere people-to-people exchange and connection between generations; Understanding each other, sympathizing and sharing more about security and defense, towards peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met the press and announced the establishment of the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the two sides also agreed to further deepen regional and international cooperation; continue to coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations (UN), ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms; promote peaceful dialogue, build trust among countries; promote ASEAN's central role; promote Mekong Sub-region cooperation mechanisms; and at the same time hope that conflicts in the world will soon be resolved by peaceful means, increase humanitarian aid, not use force or threaten to use force, comply with international law and the UN Charter, towards protecting people, leaving no one behind.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the two sides reaffirmed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); agreed to exchange and share information and enhance cooperation, striving to turn the East Sea into a sea of ​​peace, stability, friendship, cooperation and comprehensive development, bringing benefits to the people of the region and related countries.

The two sides agreed to create favorable conditions and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of people and businesses of the two countries to live, work and study in each other's country. The Prime Minister thanked Australia for creating favorable conditions and supporting Vietnamese students and more than 350,000 people of Vietnamese origin living and working in Australia; at the same time, always welcoming and creating favorable conditions for Australian citizens and businesses to study, work, do business and invest in Vietnam.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to assign relevant agencies to proactively and actively implement the signed agreements; stating that moving from agreement to action and effectiveness is a process, and the two sides must seriously implement, summarize and evaluate through bilateral meetings and exchanges in flexible forms to do better.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is pleased and confident that the official upgrading of relations to the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will open a new chapter in bilateral relations with more substantive, effective and sustainable cooperation in all fields, meeting the aspirations and practical interests of the people of the two countries, and actively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh witnessed the signing ceremony and exchange of 11 cooperation documents between the two countries in the fields of education and training; energy and minerals; agriculture, forestry and fisheries; science, technology and innovation; labor and employment; trade, investment, finance and banking; defense and peacekeeping; and justice.

According to VNA