Australia considers VN key partner in Asia-Pacific
VGP - Cao Lanh and My Thuan bridges are among the projects symbolizing the friendship between Viet Nam and Australia and the two bridges will give a strong boost to the development of the Mekong Delta.
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Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung (R) and Australian FM Julie Bishop in Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap on May 27, 2018. Photo: VGP |
The two projects, which were financed by the Australian Government, are also good examples of effective use of Australia’s official development assistance in Viet Nam, Dung said.
Especially, the Cao Lanh bridge will create new economic opportunities for the five million people living in the surrounding area by reducing travel times and making it easier for people to access markets - travel time between Ho Chi Minh City and Long Xuyen will be deduced from four to two and a half hours.
Dung asked the two countries’ foreign ministries to act as focal points to accelerate specific project to bring about concrete benefits to both countries and to contribute to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.
He also appreciated the Australian Government’s commitment to provide official development assistance for Viet Nam in the 2018-2019 financial year while calling on Australia to continue its support for key areas like infrastructure development, agriculture and rural development, climate change adaptation, and human resource development.
Dung told Ms. Bishop that PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has extended invitation to his Australian counterpart to visit Viet Nam and attend the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in September this year.
For her part, Julie Bishop highly valued Viet Nam’s socio-economic and international integration achievements, affirming the Australian Government considers Viet Nam one of its key partners in Asia-Pacific.
She underlined the importance of lifting the bilateral ties to strategic partnership, committing to close coordination with Viet Nam to deploy the contents of the new partnership level and successfully realize the goals enshrined in the Viet Nam-Australia Action Program for the period 2016-2019.
Both sides highly valued their good cooperation at regional and international forums such as ASEAN, EAS, APEC, ASEM and the United Nations.
Ms. Bishop affirmed Australia’s consistent position on the East Sea issue, which stresses on the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea, settling disputes through peaceful measures on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
She also reaffirmed that Australia backs Viet Nam’s bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council tenure 2020-2021./.
By Hai Minh
