Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn meets his Australian counterpart Penny Wong in Hà Nội during her visit to Việt Nam in June this year. —VNA/VNS Photo

SYDNEY — Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyễn Tất Thành has written an article highlighting the outstanding achievements in Việt Nam – Australia ties over the past five decades as Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn is on an official visit to Australia.

Sơn is visiting Australia from September 10-13 to co-chair the fourth Việt Nam-Australia Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

In his article, Thanh wrote that the two countries have shared common interests and offered mutual support and trust on core issues within both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

He pointed out that economic and sci-tech cooperation is a bright spot in bilateral ties, with two-way trade surpassing US$10 billion for the first time in 2021. The figure soared by 40 per cent annually to $9.6 billion in seven months of this year. According to the latest statistics, Việt Nam has become Australia's 10th biggest trade partner, while Australia is the seventh largest trade partner of the Southeast Asian nation.

National defence-security cooperation has also been expanded based on mutual trust while education ties and people-to-people exchange have become ever stronger.

On the significance of FM Sơn's visit, Thanh said it is the first ministerial visit to Australia since the two countries reopened their doors following the pandemic. It is also the first visit to Australia by Foreign Minister Sơn under the annual foreign ministers' meeting mechanism. It takes place ahead of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties next year, starting a series of high-level visits between both sides in the future.

Through the visit, Việt Nam wants to consolidate and develop its strategic partnership with Australia, Thanh said, adding that it will give both sides a chance to review their ties and outline measures to deepen mutually beneficial collaboration further. Furthermore, it steps up several important contents about multilateral cooperation after ASEAN established a comprehensive strategic partnership with Australia in October 2021.

The ambassador said the economy, national defence-security, and innovation are the three key pillars of Việt Nam - Australia ties. Both sides will continue enhancing links across the priority fields of education-training, natural resources-energy, agro-forestry-fisheries, manufacturing, tourism, sci-tech, digital economy and services.

He suggested establishing a bilateral partnership in energy so that Australia can offer financial and technological support to Việt Nam to switch to a low-emission economy.

Toward the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year, he said they will further deepen ties via Party's external relation and State diplomacy channels, as well as in promising fields such as digital economy, sustainable supply chains, locality-to-locality cooperation, corporate support and cultural exchanges. — VNS