Vietnam - Australia upgrade relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Making Australia and Vietnam one of each other's most important partners

Speaking at a press conference, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his delight at welcoming Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife to an official visit to Australia. "This is also in response to the generous hospitality I received in Vietnam last June. I believe that visits like this will invigorate the bilateral relationship," the Australian Prime Minister said.

In 2023, Australia and Vietnam celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations.

“Those five decades have seen Australia and Vietnam build an enduring partnership, a friendship based on trust, mutual respect, family and community ties, and a shared vision of an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Today’s elevation of our relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will make Australia and Vietnam one of each other’s most important partners,” the Australian Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attend a press conference to announce the upgrade of Vietnam-Australia relations to the highest level - Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac)

He said that 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 and resource transition, including important mineral supply chains, 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, as 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 promoting trade and investment cooperation to promote economic prosperity between the two countries. Trade turnover between Vietnam and Australia in 2022 reached 25.7 billion Australian dollars, an increase of 75% compared to 2020.

Australia is implementing the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040. To strengthen economic relations and increase investment between the two countries, the Australian Prime Minister announced in Melbourne earlier this week the expansion of a program to support Australian technology companies in Vietnam to increase investment, further research into new markets...

"Much work is being done across the Australian Government to build trade and investment relations with Vietnam," said the Australian Prime Minister.

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 was pleased to announce that arrangements have been agreed to facilitate 1,000 Vietnamese workers to work in Australia's agricultural sector, with workers expected to begin arriving this year.

The Australian Prime Minister said that all cooperation initiatives and programs must be maintained and further strengthened based on the connections 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 many generations and many geographical areas, the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership will be effectively implemented, together addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that upgrading the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership 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. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac)

6 points of Vietnam-Australia relations

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

The Prime Minister was pleased and respectfully 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.

"On this occasion, we sincerely thank and highly appreciate Australia's active support and cooperation for Vietnam's innovation, integration and development process, especially its support of 26.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, being one of the countries that supports the most vaccines, leading in vaccines for children and maintaining high levels of ODA for Vietnam," the Prime Minister said.

In Melbourne, the Prime Minister discussed some finer points in the Vietnam-Australia relationship after more than 50 years of diplomatic relations, 15 years of establishing the Comprehensive Partnership and 6 years of the Strategic Partnership. The Prime Minister said that at the very successful talks, he and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the upgrading of the Vietnam-Australia relationship to the highest level - the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The Prime Minister 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.

The two sides agreed to create favorable conditions and ensure the legal and legitimate rights and interests of people and businesses from both countries to live, work and study in each other's country. (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac)

With this new framework of relations between the two countries, the Prime Minister summarized and added "6 more points" as follows:

First, higher political and diplomatic trust.

Second, economic, trade and investment cooperation must be more inclusive, substantive and effective.

Third, promote stronger cooperation in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and green transformation.

Fourth, more comprehensive and profound cooperation in culture, education and training, environment, and climate change response.

Fifth, people-to-people exchanges and connections between generations are more open and sincere.

Sixth, understand each other, sympathize and share more about security and defense, towards peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

The two Prime Ministers also agreed to further deepen regional and international cooperation; continue to coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations, ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms; promote peaceful dialogue, build trust among countries; promote the central role of ASEAN; promote cooperation mechanisms for the Mekong Sub-region; and 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 Charter of the United Nations, 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 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.

On this occasion, the competent agencies of the two countries signed 11 important cooperation documents on defense, trade, energy, education, science-technology, justice, etc. The two Prime Ministers agreed to assign relevant agencies to proactively and actively implement the implementation. According to the Prime Minister, from agreement to action and effectiveness is a process, the two sides must seriously implement, summarize and evaluate through meetings and exchanges between the two sides in flexible forms to do better.

"We are extremely pleased and firmly believe that, with the official upgrading of relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership today, Vietnam and Australia have entered a new chapter in the history of bilateral relations towards more substantive, effective, comprehensive, inclusive and sustainable cooperation in all fields, meeting the aspirations and practical interests of the people of the two countries, actively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, development and friendship in the region and the world," the Prime Minister emphasized.

Tra Khanh

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