MELBOURNE — Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng has spoken highly of Victoria state’s cooperation with Vietnamese localities, notably Hà Nội and HCM City, during his working visit to Australia.

Meeting with the state’s Premier Daniel Andrews in Melbourne on November 26, the official highlighted that Victoria is among the Australian states which nurture a practical and effective cooperation in multiple fields with Vietnamese localities.

He also spoke highly of the outcomes of recent Việt Nam visits by Andrews in October and Governor of Victoria Linda Dessau a month earlier, expressing his delight that businesses of the Australian state have bolstered investment in Việt Nam, boosting two-way trade.

Dũng asked local authorities to continue to create favourable condition for the Vietnamese community of more than 130,000 people in Melbourne and other cities of the Australian state.

Andrews affirmed that there will be more visits by leaders and businesses of the state to Việt Nam in 2020 to promote cooperation and investment.

He voiced his hope that the two sides will devise an action plan to further boost trade, tourism and student exchanges, and highly valued the role and contributions by the Vietnamese community in the state as an important factor that fosters the Australia-Việt Nam friendship and collaboration.

On November 27, the Deputy PM urged Australian firms to increase investment in Việt Nam to bolster two-way trade.

Attending an event to introduce Vietnamese products in Melbourne, he said the development of the Việt Nam-Australia strategic partnership has opened new opportunities for economic cooperation for businesses of the two nations.

He called on the countries’ firms to grasp the chances to bolster investment and trade in a bid to make Việt Nam and Australia among the 10 leading trade partners of each other and double two-way investment.

The Deputy PM also toured the RMIT University which has become the largest direct foreign investor of Australia in Việt Nam with more than 6,000 students in the country, lauding its recent cooperation deals to train workforce in Việt Nam’s aviation industry and pledging to create optimal conditions for Australian education facilities to continue their investment and activities in Việt Nam.

The same day, he witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between Việt Nam’s newest airline Bamboo Airways and the Melbourne Airport on the development of a direct route from Việt Nam to Melbourne.

Meeting with leaders of the Vietnamese Business Association of Australia (VBAA) on November 27, the official spoke highly of efforts by the VBAA in the development of trade and investment between the countries.

Receiving leaders of the Macquarie Group, Australia’s largest investment fund in renewable energy, and the country’s leading natural gas producer Woodside, Deputy PM Dũng welcomed Australian firms’ further investment in Việt Nam’s energy sector, especially renewable energy.

In reply, the two firms’ leaders affirmed their commitment to the Vietnamese market, voicing their hope to strengthen cooperation and investment in wind power in the sea, solar power and liquefied gas projects in the Southeast Asian nation.

The Deputy PM arrived in Auckland on November 27 evening, starting a working trip to New Zealand. — VNS