At the meeting with the President of the Australian Senate, the National Assembly Chairman suggested that the two sides aim to increase trade turnover to 20 billion USD and double two-way investment in the coming time.
At the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and President of the Australian Senate, Ms. Sue Lines paid an official visit to Vietnam from August 24-30.
On the afternoon of August 25, at the National Assembly House, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man chaired the official welcoming ceremony for Senate President Sue Lines.
After the welcoming ceremony, the two sides held talks.
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man was delighted to welcome Ms. Sue Lines back to Vietnam on an official visit with the Australian Parliamentary Delegation; he said that the visit will contribute to concretizing and promoting the implementation of the contents of the newly upgraded Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
On behalf of the leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man respectfully thanked Senate President Sue Lines for attending the State Funeral of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on behalf of the leaders of the State, Government and Parliament of Australia.
The National Assembly Chairwoman also congratulated Senate President Sue Lines and the Australian Government on their achievements in recent years; believing that with its increasingly important role and position, Australia's development will continue to make positive contributions to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
Senate President Sue Lines thanked the Vietnamese National Assembly for its warm welcome to the delegation; she believed that through this visit, the two sides would continue to actively exchange information to strengthen the good relations between Vietnam and Australia.
Ms. Sue Lines emphasized that with the upgrade of relations to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Australia and Vietnam have become each other's most important partners, thereby enhancing cooperation in new areas to meet the aspirations and interests of the two countries on issues of climate change, digital transformation, energy, peacekeeping, etc.
At the talks, the two leaders agreed that the Vietnam-Australia relationship over the past 50 years has achieved many great achievements with important milestones such as the establishment of Comprehensive Partnership in 2009, Strategic Partnership in 2018 and upgrading the relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (March 2024) during the official visit to Australia by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. This affirms that political trust and mutual understanding are increasingly consolidated, especially through maintaining regular delegation exchanges and high-level contacts on all channels, including the Parliamentary channel.
The two countries have effectively maintained over 20 bilateral cooperation mechanisms with many positive results. Economic and trade cooperation has been maintained stably, with two-way trade turnover reaching nearly 14 billion USD in 2023. The two countries are currently among each other's top 10 trade partners.
In order to concretize and further deepen the framework of the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man suggested that the two sides continue to strengthen cooperation on all channels; increase delegation exchanges, contacts and high-level mechanisms to consolidate strategic trust within the new relationship framework; continue to maintain existing and newly established cooperation mechanisms with innovation in organizational forms and content while effectively and substantially implementing existing agreements between the two countries, coordinating to build the Action Program to implement the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 2024-2028 period; focus on promoting people-to-people exchanges, enhancing practical cooperation between localities and friendship associations of the two countries.
Regarding economics, trade and investment, the National Assembly Chairman emphasized that Vietnam supports Australia's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040; suggested that the two sides continue to effectively implement the Vietnam-Australia Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES), aiming to bring trade turnover to 20 billion USD and double two-way investment in the coming time; promote trade promotion activities and connect trade between export enterprises of the two countries.
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man suggested that Australia promptly consider actively and accelerate the process of opening the market for Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products; expand investment in areas that Vietnam is prioritizing and Australia has strengths in such as high technology, innovation, clean energy, renewable energy, mining, infrastructure, telecommunications, services, tourism, high-tech agriculture; continue to maintain and increase ODA capital for Vietnam in the fields of human resource development, especially in the fields of semiconductors, public management, public policy building and macro-finance.
Assessing that Vietnam is developing a very dynamic economy, the President of the Australian Senate suggested that the two countries increase trade and investment cooperation.
Regarding official development assistance (ODA), Australia committed to supporting Vietnam for the 2024-2025 period with 95.7 million Australian dollars, helping Vietnam achieve its socio-economic development goals; hoping that Vietnam will continue to make progress to simplify ODA project approval procedures in the coming time.
At the talks, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man also expressed his hope that Australia will continue to support Vietnam in participating in United Nations peacekeeping activities and coordinate effectively in implementing the Joint Statement on practical actions to respond to climate change (November 2021).
Vietnam hopes Australia will support Vietnam in implementing programs to respond to climate change and develop sustainable livelihoods for the Mekong Delta, respond to drought in the Central Highlands, Central and Southern provinces; share experience in building financial systems and policies to support the establishment of carbon markets, equitable energy transition, green energy, environmental protection, etc.
Appreciating Australia's education system, the National Assembly Chairman said that there are currently more than 32,700 Vietnamese students and postgraduates studying in Australia; wishing to increase student and lecturer exchanges, and scientific research cooperation between educational and training institutions of the two countries; and requesting Australia to continue creating conditions for Vietnamese students to study in Australia after the approval of the new Regulations on international education (expected in December 2024).
Along with the positive development of bilateral relations, the two leaders affirmed that cooperation between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Australian Parliament is constantly expanding and becoming more substantive.
The two sides are actively coordinating to implement the Cooperation Agreement between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Australian Parliament signed in 2022; maintaining consultation and mutual support at multilateral parliamentary forums.
In particular, the recent high-level visits between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Australian Parliament have contributed to creating new momentum for the relationship between the two legislative bodies and between the two countries in general.
National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man suggested that in the coming time, the two sides should increase high-level contacts and contacts between the National Assembly Committees, between parliamentarians of the two countries, and between the two Friendship Parliamentarians' Groups to exchange information and share experiences in organizing parliamentary activities, especially in building institutions, perfecting the legal system and supervising the implementation of law enforcement; continue to promote the role of the legislative bodies of the two countries in promoting bilateral relations; supervise and promote ministries, branches, localities and enterprises to actively and effectively implement signed agreements and deals.
The two sides will promote cooperation between agencies and committees of the two countries' parliaments, between the Office of the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Senate Secretariat and the House of Representatives Secretariat of Australia, especially in the fields of training and fostering officials, exchanging experiences in research, general consulting and organization to serve the activities of the Parliament.
At the same time, strengthen consultation, information exchange, coordinate stances on regional issues of common concern, and support each other at multilateral parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA); the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF)...
The National Assembly Chairman suggested that Australia continue to pay attention to creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Australia to live, work, study stably, integrate into the host society, establish associations and unions in accordance with Australian law, create conditions for learning Vietnamese in schools with many Vietnamese students, promote the active role of Vietnamese people in contributing positively to the development of Australia and being a bridge for the relationship between the two countries.
Earlier in the morning of the same day, President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines and the Australian Parliamentary Delegation visited Trang An Eco-tourism Area, part of the Trang An World Cultural and Natural Heritage Complex, Ninh Binh.
According to the program, on the same evening, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man hosted an official reception for Australian Senate President Sue Lines and the delegation on an official visit to Vietnam./.
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