Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue held talks with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce and had a working session with Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo in Sydney on July 25.
At the meetings, the Australian officials lauded Vietnam’s active role in the Southeast Asian region, and affirmed Australia’s priority to the relations with Vietnam. They wished to bring the ties with Vietnam to a new height.
The two sides shared delight at the strong growth of the Vietnam-Australia relations, especially since the two countries lift their ties to Comprehensive Partnership in 2009 and released a Joint Statement on Enhancing the Comprehensive Partnership in March 2015.
They agreed to deepen the bilateral relationship and work closely to prepare for visits of senior leaders of both countries in late 2017 and early 2018 to mark the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam-Australia diplomatic relations.
Both sides concurred on measures to reinforce their comprehensive partnership in politics, economy-trade, agriculture, development assistance, education-training, science-technology-renovation, tourism and people-to-people contacts.
Deputy PM Hue and Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce, who is Acting Prime Minister, and other Australian officials affirmed their determination to beef up bilateral economic, trade and investment and increase two-way trade from the current 5 billion USD per year, while increasing investments in such promising areas as agriculture, education, infrastructure, and creative technology.
The two countries will work together for the establishment of a dialogue mechanism at ministerial level in economy-trade, looking towards setting up an economic partnership in the future.
The two sides agreed to coordinate in gradually removing obstacles hindering the trade of agricultural and aquatic products, promoting business connectivity and the formation of production-supply chain and increasing added value for farm produces.
Barnaby Joyce and Steven Ciobo said that Australia will affiliate closely with Vietnamese partners to support the import of qualified fruits and fresh shrimp to Australia.
Australia will also continue providing official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam in areas of climate change response, human resources development, private sector capacity enhancement, and gender equality.
Deputy PM Hue stated that Vietnam will use Australian ODA in an effective manner to fulfil its goals in poverty reduction, improving livelihoods of locals in mountainous and rural areas.
The two sides also shared many common views on regional and international matters. They agreed to continue coordinating closely and supporting each other at multilateral forums, especially the ASEAN.
Amidst significant changes in geopolitics-economy in the region, Australia affirmed its comprehensive support and active assistance for the ASEAN to fulfil its targets in building the ASEAN Community, strengthening connectivity, narrowing down development gap, reinforcing intra-bloc solidarity and promoting its central role in dealing with strategic matters in the region.
The two sides also underlined the importance of maintaining peace, stability, overflight and maritime security, safety and freedom in the region, as well as the settlement of disputes through peaceful measures on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. They highlighted the significance of respecting diplomatic and legal processes, exercising self-restraint, not taking unilateral actions to escalate tensions and dispute, and strictly implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea and the early formation of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea.
The Vietnamese and Australian officials stressed the need to enhance cooperation to seek suitable orientations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and speed up the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Also on July 25, before concluding his three-day visit to Australia, Deputy PM Hue visited the Innovation Xchange run by the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is an initiative of Minister Julie Bishop to enhance the efficiency of development support projects and programmes that Australia operates in the Indian Ocean and Pacific regions.