President Võ Văn Thưởng (right) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at their meeting on Sunday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese President Võ Văn Thưởng on Sunday received Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is on a two-day official visit to Việt Nam starting June 3.

The state leader appreciated Australia's provision of stable official development assistance (ODA) for Việt Nam and its support in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic through timely grant of vaccines in large quantities.

For his part, Albanese affirmed that Việt Nam has always been Australia's top priority partner in the region and wished to constantly develop cooperative relations with the Southeast Asian nation.

Vietnam will have a priority position in a Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 that the Australian Government is developing, he noted.

The leaders expressed their delight at the outstanding achievements of the bilateral ties across various fields, especially politics-foreign affairs, security-defence, economy-trade-investment, education-training, culture, tourism, sports, labour, science-technology, and people-to-people and locality-to-locality exchanges.

They agreed to further strengthen political trust, considering it an important basis for the elevation of the bilateral relations to new heights in the time to come.

Albanese informed his host of Australia’s decision to grant 105 million AUD (US$69.51 million) for Việt Nam serving cooperation in climate change response and energy transition; the RMIT University’s increase of investment in the country to 250 million AUD; and the Western Sydney University’s grant of scholarships for Vietnamese and regional students.

The Australian PM said he welcomes the opening of more direct routes to major Australian cities by Vietnamese carriers Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet, which he said contributes to promoting economic and tourism cooperation, and exchange activities between the two peoples.

President Thưởng, in turn, proposed Australia create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Australia to preserve the language, traditions, and culture of their home country, and for Vietnamese students to complete visa procedures and study.

He also suggested Australia establish more branches of its major universities in Việt Nam; and soon implement the revised memorandum of understanding on the Australian Agriculture Visa programme.

Viêt Nam is ready to provide skilled workers in the industrial, agricultural and service sectors for Australia, and welcomes Australian citizens to participate in the Vietnamese work and holiday programme, he stated.

Discussing regional and international issues, the two sides concurred to continue to support each other and work closely at regional and international forums, especially the UN, APEC, ASEAN and other ASEAN-led mechanisms. Albanese reaffirmed Australia's stance of respecting the rule of law in the region and settling disputes in the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea) by peaceful means in conformity with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). — VNS