Sydney (VNA) – Deputy PrimeMinister Trinh Dinh Dung and Australian leaders agreed to enhance the twocountries’ all-round relations during their meetings on November 25.

At the meeting with host PM Scott Morrison, Dungexpressed the Vietnamese Government and people’s sympathies for Australia onthe heavy losses caused by recent forest fires.

Valuing his guest’s visit from November 24 to27, Morrison repeated the pledge by the two countries’ leaders to furtherenhance the strategic partnership and comprehensive cooperation, especially ineconomy, security – defence, and people-to-people exchange.

Regarding regional and international issues,both sides agreed to further strengthen ties at multilateral forums, sharecommon stances, and work together to promote peace and stability in the EastSea on the basis of international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention onthe Law of the Sea.

The same day, Deputy PM Dung and his Australiancounterpart Michael McCormack held talks to look into the countries’ relations,as well as regional and international issues of shared concern.


They expressed their delight at the strong andcomprehensive development of Vietnam – Australia relations, particularly sincetheir ties were lifted to the strategic partnership in March 2018.

The Deputy PMs affirmed that both countries willcoordinate to effectively implement the agreements between their leaders andthe outcomes of the official trip to Vietnam by PM Morrison in August 2019,particularly the target that they will become one of the top 10 trade partnersof each other and double bilateral investment as soon as possible.

Dung suggested high-rankings visits and meetingsbe maintained; the mechanism of annual meetings between their senior leaders becarried out soon; bilateral cooperation mechanisms be implemented regularly,especially at the newly-established foreign, defence and economic ministeriallevel; and an action programme for implementing the strategic partnership for2020 – 2023 be built soon.

He also appreciated the Australian Government’smaintenance of development assistance for Vietnam, including in infrastructuredevelopment, human resources training, poverty reduction, rural development,and climate change response.

The official expressed his hope that Australianbusinesses will invest more in other fields that match their country’s strengthand Vietnam’s demand like energy, mining, digital economy, telecommunications,and tourism.

The two Deputy PMs agreed to increase sharingexperience and boost cooperation in transport development, urban planning, andenvironmental protection.

For his part, McCormack promised to activelyconsider Vietnam’s proposal about the review and amendment of the 1995 airtransport agreement to facilitate the opening of more direct routes between thetwo sides, thus meeting the growing demand of both economies and peoples.

He also vowed to continue creating favourableconditions for the Vietnamese community in Australia, thereby contributing toeach country’s development as well as the bilateral friendship and cooperation.

Discussing regional and global issues, theDeputy PMs noted with satisfaction their countries’ fruitful cooperation atmultilateral forums, particularly the UN, the ASEAN-led mechanisms, andregional free trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and ProgressiveAgreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

They shared the view on the importance ofmaintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation andaviation, along with the respect for law, in the East Sea.

McCormack affirmed that Australia will supportand coordinate with Vietnam when the latter serves as ASEAN Chair in 2020 and anon-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020 – 2021.


At the meetings with Minister for Industry,Science and Technology Karen Andrews and Minister for Agriculture BridgetMcKenzie, Deputy PM Dung asked relevant agencies of the countries to workcloser to better the connections in scientific research, innovation, andintellectual property within both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

McKenzie pledged to actively consider Vietnam’sproposal about the facilitation of Vietnamese agro-aquatic products’ access tothe Australian market. She said she and her Vietnamese counterpart will discussthis matter and other issues at their meeting in Australia in February 2020./.