Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed directions for ASEAN - Australia relations in the coming time, including three breakthroughs, three enhancements and three togetherness.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the Special Summit to celebrate 50 years of ASEAN-Australia relations in Melbourne, Australia on the morning of March 6. This is an opportunity for leaders of ASEAN and Australia to review the relationship over the past half century and set out visions and development orientations for the coming time.
Speaking at the plenary session, the Prime Minister assessed that one of the most important changes in the past 50 years is Australia's increasingly deep positioning, engagement, cooperation and integration with Asia and Southeast Asia.
Geographical distance has not changed, but the relationship between Australia and Southeast Asia "is closer and stronger than ever", the Prime Minister assessed. 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.
The Prime Minister proposed directions for ASEAN-Australia relations in the coming time, including three breakthroughs and three enhancements.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the Special Summit to celebrate 50 years of ASEAN-Australia relations in Melbourne, Australia, March 6. Photo: Nhat Bac
The first breakthrough is in economic, trade and investment cooperation in a balanced and sustainable direction. 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 breakthrough is in human resource development, especially high-quality human resources and labor cooperation. Education and training are 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.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed the new scholarship program under the "Australia for the Future of ASEAN" initiative, suggesting that the two sides 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 this country.
The next breakthrough is in cooperation on science, technology and innovation, focusing on developing the digital economy, green transformation, circular economy, emerging industries and fields such as semiconductor chips, artificial intelligence, etc., turning these fields into new growth drivers for the ASEAN - Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The Prime Minister also proposed three enhancements in ASEAN-Australia relations, in which enhancing political trust and cooperation to ensure regional peace and security are important and regular tasks.
The Prime Minister proposed promoting a culture of dialogue and cooperation, promoting trust building based on rules and preventive diplomacy, encouraging major countries to make responsible contributions to the region, including maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the East Sea, thereby jointly solving global and regional issues related to Australia .
Second is to strengthen sub-regional cooperation, narrow the development gap for inclusive and sustainable development. The Prime Minister welcomed Australia's announcement of an additional AU$222.5 million 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, helping to create positive socio-economic changes in poor and underdeveloped sub-regions of ASEAN, meeting the goal of inclusive development, in the spirit of leaving no one behind.
Third is to enhance cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchange. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed the initiatives of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on establishing the ASEAN-Australia Center.
This is a very timely initiative that will contribute to promoting the strengths of more than one million people of ASEAN origin, including more than 350,000 people of Vietnamese origin in Australia, contributing to enhancing understanding, empathy and connection, especially between the young generations of both sides, thereby consolidating a long-term and strong social foundation.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders at the Special Summit to celebrate 50 years of ASEAN-Australia relations. Photo: Nhat Bac
At the retreat, to promote regional vision, the Prime Minister proposed three togethers between ASEAN and Australia, including building a united and self-reliant region, capable of withstanding shocks and fluctuations from both inside and outside.
The two sides also jointly promote a region that respects international law and acts based on the rule of law, in which countries comply with the United Nations Charter, international law, respect ASEAN rules and standards of conduct, and promote the building of new rules and standards of conduct, including a truly substantive and effective COC, contributing to making the East Sea a sea of peace, stability, cooperation and development.
ASEAN and Australia also jointly build and shape an open, inclusive regional structure, promoting multilateralism with ASEAN playing a central role, a core factor helping to gather and harmonize interests among major countries.
At the end of the conference, the leaders of the two sides adopted the "ASEAN-Australia Leaders' Vision Statement - Partners for Peace and Prosperity" and the "Melbourne Declaration - Partners for the Future", setting out a vision for the future as well as directions for developing relations in all areas in the coming time.
ASEAN - Australia established a Strategic Partnership in 2014 and upgraded it to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021. Bilateral relations are developing dynamically in all areas of politics - security, economy, culture - society and development cooperation, in which two-way trade turnover in 2022 reached more than 101 billion USD, an increase of nearly 20% compared to 2021; foreign direct investment from Australia to ASEAN reached more than 2 billion USD, 6.5 times higher than in 2021, almost reaching the level before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Australia is also one of the leading partners supporting ASEAN in community building, providing scholarships for students from ASEAN countries, and providing financial and technical support to help strengthen connectivity, narrow the development gap and develop the Mekong sub-region.
During the two-day conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with all senior leaders of ASEAN countries, Australia, New Zealand, Timor Leste and the ASEAN Secretary General. He thanked the countries for their cooperation, support and experience sharing in the process of economic recovery and development; and wished to promote cooperation on important pillars of ASEAN and Vietnam's relations with the countries.
During the meetings, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he looked forward to the visit of the Vietnamese government leader, bringing the relationship between the two countries to a new level. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong agreed to promote the implementation of Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs), cooperation in the fields of digital transformation, green economy, digital economy; and the construction and management of population data.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon highly appreciated Vietnam's role in ASEAN, affirming that he will closely cooperate with Vietnam and ASEAN countries on common regional issues.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has invited leaders of countries to send ministerial-level representatives to attend the ASEAN Future Forum scheduled to be held in Hanoi on April 23.
Hoang Thuy - Ngoc Anh
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