Hanoi (VNA)– Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed the first State visit toVietnam by Australian Governor-General DavidHurley, which is also the first trip by a senior leader of Australia after a four-y𝔍ear hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at their meeting in Hanoi on April 4.

Highlightingthe significance of the visit at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Australia diplomaticties, PM Chinh congratulated Australia on its impressive achievements in economic recovery and development in the post-COVID-19 period, positively improving social security for people and carrying out important international commitments, including in response to climate change. Governor-General Hurley spoke highly of Vietnam’s achievements in the fight against COVID-19, economic recoveryand development with a GDP growth rate of over 8% last year, the highest level in the past 10 years. PM Chinh said theVietnam-Australia strategic partnership is growing strongly, with two-way trade risingby nearly 27% to roughly 15.7 billion USD last year, making Australia the 7th largest trade partner of Vietnam and Vietnam the 10th biggest trade partner of Australia. He suggestedAustralia create more favourable conditions for Vietnam’s agro-aquatic products toenter the country to achieve more balanced trade between the two nations. Vietnamwelcomes Australian firms and major investment funds to invest in Vietnam inareas such as renewable energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, finance-banking,education, hi-tech agriculture, digital transformation, mining, aviation,tourism, among others, he said, proposing Australia offer support toVietnamese enterprises operating in mining, agriculture, aviation and tourism. Regardingnational defence-security cooperation, PM Chinh proposed Australia continue assisting Vietnam in training, improving the capacity and English skills,and in the fight against transnational, terrorism, economic, drug and cybercrimes. Governor-General Hurley,for his part, spoke highly of the PM’s proposals, adding that the two economiesare highly supplementary to each other. Australia is in the process of expandingand diversifying its trade partners, with a priority given to countries in theregion, he said.

Both sides need to propel cooperation in other areas such aseducation, tourism, agriculture, people-to-people exchange, he recommended.

As direct flightsbetween the two nations have been resumed with 17 flights per week, they agreed toshare experience in tourism development, particularly community, green, stu🥀dyand health tou🅷rism.

The Governor-Generalhailed the establishment of theVietnam-Australia Centre at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, aswell as Vietnam's creating favourable conditions for RMIT University to expand its operations inVietnam. Aboutnew cooperation areas such as climate change response and energy transition, heaffirmed that Australia will help Vietnam achieve the target of net zeroemissions by 2050 and partner with Vietnam and Laos to organise theASEAN-Australia High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change and Energy Transition. On regional and global issues, both host and guest highly evaluated the two countries' coordination and mutual support at regional and global forums, especially at the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, and ASEAN. Theywere delighted at the development of the Australia-ASEAN relationship, includingthe upgrade of the ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in October 2021and the plan to hold a special summit to commemorate the 50th anniversaryof ASEAN-Australia relations in 2024. Australiasupports ASEAN's stance on the East Sea issue, Governor-General Hurley affirmed, agreeing thatall parties need to make greater efforts to maintain peace, stability, security, safetyand freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea; respect internationallaw, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS), seriously abide by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the EastSea (DOC) and build an effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the East Sea(COC) in accordance with international law. On this occasion, PMChinh asked the Governor-General to convey his invitation to the Australian PM to visit Vietnam at a convenient time this year./.