Australian Governor-General starts State visit to VN
VGP - Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgrove and his spouse are paying a State visit to Viet Nam from May 23-26 at the invitation of Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang.
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Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgrove and his spouse are paying a State visit to Viet Nam from May 23-26 at the invitation of Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang |
Australia considers Viet Nam a key partner in ASEAN and highly values the nation’s role in the bloc.
The two nations inked the Action Plan in 2016-2019 during Deputy PM, FM Pham Binh Minh’s visit to Australia in November 2016 as well as maintained a number of bilateral cooperative mechanisms over recent years.
The two countries have cooperated effectively in the field of security and defense through the exchange of delegations and cooperation agreements on counter-crimes, immigration management, illegal migration prevention, information and experience sharing, and English training.
The two countries have coordinated closely at regional and international forums such as ASEAN, East Asia Summit (EAS), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, and the United Nations (UN).
Viet Nam will support Australia's bid to run for a seat at the United Nations Security Council in the 2018-2020 tenure and Australia will support Viet Nam for a seat at the Human Rights Council in the 2020-2021 tenure and nominate as member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Administrative Council in the 2017-2021 tenure.
Bilateral cooperation in trade, education promoted
Currently, Australia is the eighth biggest trade partner of Viet Nam. The two-way trade records annual average growth of more than 7%, reaching nearly US$6.5 billion in 2017, a year-on-year rise of 22.2%.
Australia has poured US$1.8 billion in 412 projects, ranking 20th among 126 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam, focusing on industry and construction, processing industry, services, education, and agro-forestry-fisheries.
Viet Nam has launched 44 investment projects in Australia with total capital of US$387.1 million in fields of processing and manufacturing industry, arts, entertainment, mining and services.
Australia is one of the biggest providers of non-refundable ODA of around AUD92.7 million for Viet Nam per year in the 2013-2018 period.
Australia will continue providing AUD84.2 million in ODA for Viet Nam in the 2018-2019 period, focusing on economic reform, capacity enhancement, gender equality, and livelihood improvement.
In 2017, Viet Nam welcomed nearly 370,500 Australian visitors, up 15.5% against the previous year.
Australia is granting nearly 100 scholarships annually for Vietnamese students. Around 30,000 Vietnamese students and postgraduates are studying in Australia at present.
By Thuy Dung
