Vietnamese Minister of Finance Ngô Văn Tuấn (left) welcomes Australian Minister for International Development Anne Aly during a meeting in Hà Nội on Tuesday. — Photo thoibaotaichinhvietnam.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has called on Australia to accelerate investment and expand cooperation programmes, particularly those supporting private sector development, as the country pursues annual economic growth of more than 10 per cent in the coming years.

The proposal was made by Vietnamese Minister of Finance Ngô Văn Tuấn during talks with Australian Minister for International Development Anne Aly in Hà Nội on Tuesday.

Tuấn hailed Australia as one of Việt Nam's key development partners, noting that its cooperation has been practical, responsive to the country's development needs, and consistent over the years.

He expressed hope that Australia would continue supporting Việt Nam during its next stage of development.

The finance minister thanked the Australian Government for its commitment to provide approximately A$98.3 million (US$63.8 million) in official development assistance (ODA) to Việt Nam for 2026–27. The funding will support activities under the two countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Development Partnership Plan.

Bilateral trade continued to expand strongly in the first six months of this year, with total two-way trade reaching $8.2 billion, up 21.9 per cent year-on-year. Việt Nam's exports to Australia rose 25.1 per cent to $3.8 billion, while imports increased 19.1 per cent to $4.3 billion.

Noting that trade relations have expanded in both scale and pace, Tuấn said investment flows between the two countries should better reflect their expanding trade ties.

Tuấn said the two sides should move quickly to sign a bilateral economic development cooperation programme covering four priority areas: energy, trade, transport and economic development.

He stressed that maintaining annual economic growth of more than 10 per cent would help Việt Nam achieve its goal of becoming an upper-middle-income country with a developed industrial base by 2030, in line with the country's socio-economic development strategy.

Support for private sector development, particularly innovation, would be a key component of Australia's assistance, he said, adding that the programme should be implemented as soon as possible and assessed based on measurable outcomes.

The minister also called for Australia's support in connecting businesses, transferring technology and sharing experiences, while encouraging greater investment links between enterprises in both countries.

He said cooperation could help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participate more deeply in value chains in renewable energy, high-tech agriculture, mining and downstream processing, enabling Vietnamese firms to capture greater value in global supply chains.

Việt Nam currently has more than one million active businesses, around 98 per cent of which are SMEs, Tuấn said. The Government has introduced various policies to help them expand and improve their competitiveness, and hopes to learn from Australia's experience in developing SME policies, improving access to finance, land, technology and markets, and strengthening corporate governance.

He added that Việt Nam also looked forward to expanding cooperation with Australia in climate change adaptation and addressing the impacts of sea-level rise while maintaining strong economic growth.

In response, Minister Aly noted that Australia has around 2.8 million small businesses, adding that the challenges faced by them are similar to those encountered elsewhere.

Governments therefore play an important role in creating favourable conditions for businesses to expand in the long term, she said.

Aly said Australia looked forward to continuing its support for Việt Nam's efforts to promote economic growth and viewed the meeting as an opportunity to better understand the country's development priorities, paving the way for closer cooperation in the years ahead. VNS