On the afternoon of August 20, at the Government Headquarters, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on the occasion of the Minister's official visit to Vietnam and co-chaired the 7th Vietnam - Australia Foreign Ministers' Conference.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his satisfaction with the strong and effective development of the Vietnam - Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in most areas. The two countries have been implementing the projects and cooperation activities set out in the Action Program on schedule.
Two-way trade turnover achieved stable growth, reaching more than 14 billion USD in 2024; both sides have also actively opened the market for each other's agricultural products, accordingly, Vietnamese passion fruit has been exported to Australia for the first time and Australian plums have been present in the Vietnamese market; registered FDI capital from Australia has exceeded 3 billion USD. The Prime Minister appreciated Australia's increase in ODA for Vietnam to 96.6 million AUD.
The Prime Minister emphasized that there is still a lot of room for cooperation between the two sides, and suggested that the two sides continue to effectively implement the Action Program to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, periodically organize dialogue and consultation mechanisms, contributing to continuously increasing understanding and strengthening political trust; actively discuss measures to increase two-way trade turnover to increase growth, soon reaching the target of 20 billion USD, especially opening the door, facilitating the export of goods from both sides to each country's market.
The Prime Minister suggested that the two sides promote the effectiveness and further expand defense and security cooperation, especially cooperation in the fields of cyber security, digital transformation, and equipment support to improve capacity for Vietnam.
The Prime Minister shared Vietnam's vision and strategy on developing science and technology, innovation and digital transformation; hoped that the two sides would have a breakthrough in cooperation in this field, especially cooperation in human resource training, medical technology development, etc.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong congratulated the Prime Minister and expressed his honor to visit Vietnam on the occasion of Vietnam's preparation for the 80th anniversary of its founding. The Minister said that this is an important time for the two countries to look back on their history and shape future cooperation; affirmed that the Australian Government highly values Vietnam's role in the region as well as the Vietnam - Australia relationship and wishes to discuss measures to further develop the bilateral relationship.
Minister Penny Wong affirmed that he will strive to promote the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries, including further deepening defense and security cooperation, expanding science and technology cooperation, digital transformation and innovation, education and training, and human resource development through ODA projects and investment funds.
