Sydney (VNA) – Dr. Nguyen Hong Hai, aresearcher at the Centre for Policy Futures under the University of Queenslandin Australia, has noted that the freshly-concluded visit to Vietnam by AustralianPrime Minister Anthony Albanese was a success, as reflected through the agreements reached by the two sides on both bilateral and multilateral issues.

Albanese paid an official visit to Vietnam from June3-4 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh.

According to Hai, the two sides shared the view on positivedevelopments of the bilateral diplomatic ties over the past 50 years, and thebilateral strategic partnership in the three pillars of politics, nationalsecurity and defence; economy, trade and investment; and education andtraining.

They said ample room remains for cooperation ineconomy, trade and investment. Therefore, Vietnamese and Australian leaders setthe targets of raising bilateral trade to 20 billion USD and doubling the two-wayinvestment, the researcher said.

He also highlighted the signing of a memorandum ofunderstanding (MoU) on cooperation in the establishment of a trade dialogue mechanismat the ministerial level between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Tradeand the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The two sides also consented to increase high-levelmeetings and delegation exchanges in all Party, National Assembly and Governmentchannels, and step up people-to-people exchanges, build an action plan for thenew period, and continue boosting economic, trade and investment cooperation, andstrengthen collaboration in national defence and security, justice, and other sphereslike official development assistance (ODA), education-training,science-technology, labour, transport, tourism, climate change and digitaltransformation.

In that spirit, they agreed to work to elevate thebilateral relationship to a new level in the time ahead, Hai continued.

The researcher added that Vietnam and Australia alsoshared the view on how to approach the East Sea issue and the importance ofmaintaining and promoting peace, security, safety and freedom of navigation andaviation in the East Sea, pushing ahead with dialogues, reinforcing trust,and settling disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, includingthe 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

He held that PM Albanese’s friendliness demonstrates notonly his sentiments towards Vietnam and his love for Vietnamese culture, butalso the special importance Australia attaches to its relations with theSoutheast Asian nation.

Sharing Hai’s views, Tran Ba Phuc, President of theVietnam Business Association in Australia, said meetings during the PM’s visit reflectthe spirit of openness, candidness, sincerity, and trust between the two sides.

It also mirrors the success of Vietnam’s foreign policy,thus facilitating relations between Vietnam and other countries, he went on.

The close ties between Vietnam and Australia have beenmanifested in diplomacy, trade, education, and climate change response, hesaid, expressing a hope that the visit will contribute to consolidating thepolitical trust between the two countries and their multi-facetedcooperation./.