Ho Chi Minh City hopes to enhance cooperation with Australia in several potential fields to bring practical benefits for people on both sides, said Vice Secretary of the municipal Party Committee and Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Council Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam.
Hosting a reception for Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives Tony Smith on July 25, Tam spoke highly of her guest’s visit to Vietnam, saying that it will help foster sound cooperation between the two nations.
As a leading locality in foreign affairs and cooperation with foreign countries, Ho Chi Minh City has organised a string of friendship programmes with Australia, as well as carried out effective activities across education and training, investment, tourism, and culture, she noticed.
Describing the municipal socio-economic development, Tam said that besides robust achievements, the city still faces some challenges in its urban development process, including traffic jams, environmental pollution, and inundation.
She proposed Smith continue promoting the relations between the city and Australia, particularly in areas of both sides’ strengths, while boosting people-to-people exchange and sharing experience in the fields of mutual concerns.
Smith, for his part, expressed his delight over the strong Vietnam-Australia relations, saying that both nations have enhanced their high-level exchanges, and friendship activities in politics, foreign affairs, economy, and people-to-people diplomacy.
This is Smith’s first visit to Vietnam as the Australian Speaker of the House of Representatives, during which he aims to promote cooperative ties between the two legislatives bodies, thus consolidating and developing the friendship between the two nations.
Besides investment and tourism, the education sector poses huge potential for cooperation for both sides, he stressed.
More than 1,500 Australian students have pursued study and research in Vietnam since 2014, and in return, many Vietnamese students have studied and worked in Australia. They serve as a bridge to connect and contribute to the friendship between the two countries, he underlined.
Smith affirmed that he will do his utmost to step up cooperative activities with the Vietnamese side, as well as branch out cooperative programmes and delegation exchanges so as to foster the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership.
Tony Smith is currently on his three-day official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Chairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.