Three breakthroughs
On the morning of March 6, in Melbourne, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and spoke at the Plenary Session of the ASEAN - Australia Special Summit.
The meeting reviewed the ASEAN-Australia relationship over the past 50 years and oriented the implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two sides in the coming time.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivered an important speech at the meeting.
Looking back at the ASEAN-Australia relationship, the Prime Minister said: "One of the most important changes in our region over the past 50 years is Australia's increasingly deep positioning, engagement, cooperation and integration with Asia and Southeast Asia."
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends and speaks at the Plenary Session of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit (Photo: VGP).
He said the geographical distance between Australia and Southeast Asia has not changed, but the ASEAN-Australia relationship is now closer and stronger than ever.
Australia is now not only a neighbour but also one of ASEAN's five comprehensive strategic partners, politically trustworthy, closely linked in security and sharing in prosperity.
Believing that the bilateral relationship still has much room to continue to develop substantially and effectively in the future, the Prime Minister proposed directions for the relationship in the coming time, including three breakthroughs and three enhancements.
First of all, there is a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment cooperation towards balance and sustainability. This is the focus and driving force for the development of the ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Accordingly, it is necessary to continue to promote the effective implementation of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement; promote trade and investment liberalization, strive to double two-way trade turnover in the next 10 years, thereby promoting activities in logistics, transportation and maritime economy.
The second is a breakthrough in human resource development, especially high-quality human resources and labor cooperation.
The Prime Minister assessed that education and training is currently a bright spot in ASEAN-Australia cooperation with many initiatives and projects supporting the development of high-quality human resources, technical education and vocational training for ASEAN.
Accordingly, he welcomed the new scholarship program under the "Australia for the Future of ASEAN" initiative and suggested that the two sides further promote cooperation in training high-quality human resources and create favorable conditions for ASEAN skilled workers to work in Australia, especially in areas of demand in Australia. The two sides should soon establish a consultation mechanism to discuss and propose specific measures on this issue.
Third is a breakthrough in cooperation in science, technology, and innovation, focusing on developing the digital economy, green transformation, circular economy, and emerging industries and fields such as semiconductor chips and artificial intelligence, making these fields new growth drivers for the ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
He appreciated Australia's support for ASEAN in preparing to negotiate the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) and suggested that the two sides consider negotiating and signing the ASEAN-Australia Digital Economy Agreement after the DEFA Agreement is completed.
Three boosters
With three enhancements, the first thing the Vietnamese Government leader emphasized was to strengthen political trust and cooperation to ensure regional peace and security, considering this an important and regular task.
"In the context of the challenging regional situation, we need to promote a culture of dialogue and cooperation, promote trust building based on rules and preventive diplomacy, encourage major countries to make responsible contributions to the region, including maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the East Sea, and from there we can together solve global issues, regional issues and issues related to Australia," he said.
Overview of the plenary session (Photo: VGP).
The next thing that needs to be strengthened is sub-regional cooperation, narrowing the development gap for inclusive and sustainable development.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister welcomed Australia's announcement of an additional 222.5 million Australian dollars for the Mekong-Australia Partnership Program and hoped that Australia would continue to take the lead in supporting ASEAN, especially in strategic infrastructure connectivity projects, connecting roads, sea and air.
The third point of enhancement is culture and people-to-people exchanges. The Prime Minister assessed that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's initiatives to establish the ASEAN-Australia Center are very timely, contributing to promoting the strengths of more than 1 million people of ASEAN origin, including more than 350,000 people of Vietnamese origin in Australia.
This will contribute to enhancing understanding, empathy and connection, especially between the young generations of both sides and between the rich cultures of both sides, thereby consolidating a long-term and strong social foundation for bilateral relations.
According to the program, after the host country Australia's Prime Minister, ASEAN Secretary General and heads of delegations speak, the Conference will approve documents.
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