Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese witness the exchange of a MoU between between Việt Nam’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on cooperation in science, technology and innovation. VNA/VNS Photo

SYDNEY – Dr. Nguyen Hồng Hải, a researcher at the Centre for Policy Futures under the University of Queensland in Australia, has noted that the freshly-concluded visit to Việt Nam by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was a success, as reflected through the agreements reached by the two sides on both bilateral and multilateral issues.

Albanese paid an official visit to Việt Nam from June 3-4 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Phạm Minh Chính.

According to Hải, the two sides shared the view on positive developments of the bilateral diplomatic ties over the past 50 years, and the bilateral strategic partnership in the three pillars of politics, national security and defence; economy, trade and investment; and education and training.

They said ample room remains for cooperation in economy, trade and investment. Therefore, Vietnamese and Australian leaders set the targets of raising bilateral trade to US$20 billion and doubling the two-way investment, the researcher said.

He also highlighted the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the establishment of a trade dialogue mechanism at the ministerial level between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The two sides also consented to increase high-level meetings and delegation exchanges in all Party, National Assembly and Government channels, and step up people-to-people exchanges, build an action plan for the new period, and continue boosting economic, trade and investment cooperation, and strengthen collaboration in national defence and security, justice, and other spheres like official development assistance (ODA), education-training, science-technology, labour, transport, tourism, climate change and digital transformation.

In that spirit, they agreed to work to elevate the bilateral relationship to a new level in the time ahead, Hải continued.

The researcher added that Việt Nam and Australia also shared the view on how to approach the East Sea issue and the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, pushing ahead with dialogues, reinforcing trust, and settling disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

He held that PM Albanese’s friendliness demonstrates not only his sentiments towards Việt Nam and his love for Vietnamese culture, but also the special importance Australia attaches to its relations with the Southeast Asian nation.

Sharing Hải’s views, Trần Bá Phúc, President of the Vietnam Business Association in Australia, said meetings during the Australian Prime Minister’s visit reflect the spirit of openness, candidness, sincerity, and trust between the two sides.

It also mirrors the success of Việt Nam’s foreign policy, thus facilitating relations between Việt Nam and other countries, he went on.

The close ties between Việt Nam and Australia have been manifested in diplomacy, trade, education, and climate change response, he said, expressing a hope that the visit will contribute to consolidating the political trust between the two countries and their multi-faceted cooperation. VNS