The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that on the afternoon of July 2, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Gillian Bird on the occasion of the Ambassador's effective term.
The Prime Minister highly appreciated the strong and comprehensive development of Vietnam-Australia relations after more than 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations, with the two countries establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2024, the highest level of relations between Vietnam and a country.
The Prime Minister suggested that the Ambassador coordinate with the ministries and branches of both sides to effectively implement the agreements between the two countries; strengthen political relations and sincere cooperation between the two countries; promote economic, trade and investment cooperation, strive to bring two-way trade turnover to 20 billion USD.
The Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam and Australia are two economies that complement each other in terms of market, labor, and resources, and have great potential for cooperation that needs to be further exploited.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked Australia for always accompanying and supporting Vietnam in recent times, especially supporting English training as well as training in various fields for Vietnamese officials; and proposed to support Vietnam in implementing the National Project "making English the second language in schools".
The Prime Minister also suggested that Australia continue to provide scholarships and create favorable conditions for Vietnamese students to study in Australia; the two sides continue to promote training cooperation, making RMIT University a typical educational cooperation project between the two countries.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister also suggested that Australia create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Australia to live and work, promote traditional cultural values of Vietnam and act as a bridge for the friendship between the two countries.
For his part, Ambassador Gillian Bird highly appreciated the determination of the Vietnamese Government in implementing institutional and legal breakthroughs; affirmed that Australia in general and the Ambassador in particular always strongly support and wish to accompany Vietnam's reform in the coming time.
Ambassador Gillian Bird expressed his desire to contribute to strengthening the friendship and political trust between the two countries, and pledged to continue to closely coordinate with Vietnam's ministries and branches to promote bilateral cooperation in all aspects, especially in economics, trade, investment, education - training, tourism and people-to-people exchanges; new areas such as innovation, essential minerals, and climate change response; wishing to strengthen the implementation of the Southeast Asian Economic Cooperation Strategy to 2040 of Australia, in which Vietnam is one of the focuses.
The Ambassador highly appreciated the Vietnamese community in Australia with more than 350,000 people who are always a strong community, playing an important role in the socio-economic development of Australia, hoping that the two countries will strengthen people-to-people exchanges, creating a solid foundation for the development of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Australia.
