Senior leaders host Governor-General of Australia

Meeting with the Australian leader, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong welcomed the Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgrove’s visit to Vietnam as both countries celebrate the 45th anniversary of bilateral ties. He said he expects broader cooperation in multiple fields following the establishment of a new strategic partnership in March. 

Vietnam always advocates the role of Australia in the Asian-Pacific region and hopes the two countries will strengthen coordination in regional and international issues, he said.

He hailed the increasing people-to-people exchanges between the two countries with a great number of overseas Vietnamese living and studying in Australia.

The Party leader thanked the Australian Government for its active and effective assistance for Vietnam over the past time, including the construction of My Thuan and Cao Lanh bridges built with Australian funding in the Mekong Delta region.

The Australian official said the Government of Australia desires to augment pragmatic cooperation with Vietnam in diverse areas, especially economics, trade, and education-training.

He also praised Vietnam for sending more officers to the UN peacekeeping operations in South Sudan.

He pledged to support Vietnam to run for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure.

During the meeting, the host and guest also compared notes on several regional and global matters, including the East Sea issue.

Talking to the Australian guest, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called for more trade and investment cooperation through the removal of trade barriers to facilitate business cooperation.

 The Government leader suggested both sides work harder to fulfill the Vietnam-Australia Plan of Action 2016-2019 and expedite the implementation of contents agreed in the joint statement on the establishment of the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership.

Peter Cosgrove, in turn expressed his delight at the first visit to Vietnam on the occasion of 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties and 20th anniversary of defence relations between the two countries.

He agreed with PM Phuc on measures to boost bilateral ties and called on both sides to fully tap their strengths to advance cooperation in education-training, labour, culture, sports and tourism, and further people-to-people exchange, thus strengthening their friendship and deepening mutual understanding.

The cabinet leader highly rated Australia’s continued provision of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, which focuses on the sectors of Vietnam’s need such as infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, poverty reduction, climate change response, and development of high-quality workforce.

He also extolled both sides’ joint efforts to complete Cao Lanh Bridge on schedule for the celebration of the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

Both leaders were in agreement that greatly consolidated political trust was thanks to regular delegation exchanges and meetings at all levels.

Regarding regional and international issues, they hailed the Vietnam-Australia sound cooperation at the UN, ASEAN and other multilateral forums, affirming close coordination in dealing with the East Sea issue as well as implementing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Receiving the Governor-General, the top Vietnamese legislator Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan reiterated the legislative body’s support for more practical cooperation in a strategic partnership between the two countries. She said both countries’ friendship parliamentarian groups will develop a cooperative agenda to boost bilateral ties.

She showed her elation at the flouring ties between the Vietnamese NA and Australian Parliament, bilaterally and multilaterally on the basis of signed agreements with the Australia House of Representatives in 2009 and the Australian Parliament in 2013. 

Both sides have facilitated the exchange of all-level visits and supervised the implementation of signed agreements between the two governments. 

Cosgrove said he hopes to see more trade activities between the two nations and spoke of his appreciation for Vietnam’s initiative to assign personnel to the South Sudan for the United Nations peacekeeping mission. He told Ngan that his nation will provide logistics support to Vietnam to fulfill assigned tasks. 

Ngan used the occasion to ask the Governor-General to convey her invitation to President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives of Australia to visit Vietnam in the future.