State President holds talks with Australian Governor-General

VGP – State President Tran Dai Quang and Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove agreed to strengthen cooperation in pillar fields of security-defense, economics-trade, science-technology, education-training and development aid to expand coordination in other areas of potential.

May 24, 2018 4:45 PM GMT+7

State President Tran Dai Quang and Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, Ha Noi, May 24, 2018 - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

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The statement was made during their talks held on May 24 on the occasion of the Australian Governor-General’s State visit to Viet Nam.

At the talks, Mr. Quang highlighted the meaning of the Australian leader’s first visit to Viet Nam on the occasion of the 45^th anniversary of diplomatic ties and 20^thanniversary of defense relations, expecting that the visit will consolidate and develop Viet Nam-Australia Strategic Partnership.

The two leaders hailed the strong and effective developments in the two countries’ relationship through high-ranking delegation exchanges, consenting to launch more activities on the 45^th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

Both sides highly praised the two-way trade value of US$6.5 billion in 2017 and Australia pouring US$1.8 billion in 400 projects in Viet Nam, ranking 19th among 126 nations and territories investing in Viet Nam.

They assented to enhance political and strategic trusts through delegation exchanges at all levels, improve the effectiveness of current bilateral cooperative mechanisms and promote new cooperative frameworks such as economic partnership, agriculture partnership and foreign ministerial-level meetings as well as boost exchanges between social organizations.

The Vietnamese leader proposed the two sides consider trade barriers affecting each side’s export items such as Viet Nam’s agriculture-aquaculture products and encourage the two nations’ businesses to increase investment in fields of energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, finance-banking, manufacturing, high-tech agriculture, education and tourism.

Mr. Peter Cosgrove affirmed that Australia will continue promoting security and defense cooperation with Viet Nam, focusing on training and joining the United Nations peace keeping activities, actively assist Viet Nam in addressing bombs and mines issues.

Mr. Quang expressed thanks to Australia for giving priority to providing Official Development Assistance (ODA) for Viet Nam, asserting that Australian-financed projects have been effectively launched in Viet Nam. Besides My Thuan Bridge, Cao Lanh Bridge, one of projects supported by the Australian Government will be inaugurated on May 27, 2018, which is also regarded as a symbol in the two nations’ relationship.

He stressed the need to accelerate cooperation in education-training, culture, labor and sports, referring to the increasing number of Vietnamese students in Australia (nearly 30,000 ones) and the number of Australian visitors to Viet Nam (400,000 ones in 2017).

The host and the guest agreed to facilitate their airlines to soon launch direct air route and encourage their citizens to join the vacation-labor program.

The State President suggested Australia create favorable conditions for more than 300,000 Overseas Vietnamese in Australia.

The two leaders discussed issues of international and regional concerns, confirming to support each other at international and regional forums, especially the United Nations, ASEAN, join hands in addressing East Sea issues and closely coordinate in launching the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Australian leader respectively invited Mr. Quang to pay an official visit to Australia in an appropriate time.

By Thuy Dung