Victoria is Australia's second most populous state with a population of over 6.9 million and has the second largest economy in the country. In particular, Melbourne - the capital of Victoria - is one of Australia's most important industrial centres.
At the meeting, representatives of the Victorian government were Mr. Paul Hammer, Head of Parliamentary Economics and Ms. Emma Laurence, Director of Global External Affairs.
Minister Nguyen Chi Dung and his partners discussed promoting investment between Vietnam and Victoria, and cooperating to develop an innovation ecosystem and high-quality human resources in the technology sector, especially artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.
The Minister emphasized that the relationship between Vietnam and Australia has been upgraded to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership since March 7, 2024, with a focus on promoting cooperation in the fields of innovation, science and technology, and high-quality human resource development.
Vietnam wishes to promote bilateral investment between the two sides, focusing on potential technology sectors such as green economy, digital economy, education, digital transformation, circular economy, high-tech agriculture, renewable energy, and new energy.
The Vietnamese Government is committed to creating the most favorable conditions for Victorian businesses and organizations to invest and cooperate in Vietnam.
On the side of Victoria state, Mr. Paul Hammer highly appreciated Vietnam's socio-economic progress, as well as its great potential for high-quality human resources.
Victoria has particular strengths in education, with world-leading universities such as the University of Melbourne and Monash University, which currently account for 55% of Vietnamese students studying in Australia.
Victoria State wishes to continue strengthening economic cooperation with Vietnam, and is committed to supporting Vietnam in developing its semiconductor and artificial intelligence industrial ecosystem.
On the same day, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung also had working sessions with the University of Melbourne and Monash University. Here, the Minister highly appreciated these two schools as world-leading institutions in the fields of innovation and high technology, and proposed cooperation in training, incubation and human resource development for the AI and semiconductor fields in Vietnam.
In particular, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung also inspected the Melbourne Connect Innovation Center of the University of Melbourne, one of Australia's leading innovation centers.
The meeting also opened up new opportunities for cooperation between the Melbourne Connect Innovation Centre and the National Innovation Centre (NIC) of Vietnam in innovation activities as well as Melbourne Connect's cooperation programs to enhance NIC's innovation capacity as well as consulting, training, incubation, and exchanging startups with NIC.
