Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Australia are expected to elevatetheir relations to a strategic partnership during the upcoming official visitof Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, as a result of long-standing and soundpartnership over the past more than four decades.

2018 is a year of special significance to Vietnam and Australia, as thetwo countries mark the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. Throughthe decades, they have built a strong partnership with the establishment ofcomprehensive partnership in 2009. They signed a declaration on enhancingbilateral comprehensive partnership in 2015.

During the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang in November last year,PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Australian counterpart Malcom Turnbull announcedtheir intention to upgrade the bilateral ties to a strategic partnership, whichis expected to be realised during the Vietnamese PM’s upcoming visit toAustralia.

Trade and economic partnership is an outstanding example in bilateralties, with trade revenue increasing 200 times since 1990 to reach 6.46 billionUSD in 2017 and expected to hit 10 billion USD in 2020.

Australia currently ranks 19th out of 116 foreign investorsin Vietnam with total investment of 1.82 billion USD in 396 projects. The twosides have signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP) and actively engage in negotiations on the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Australia has been a regular ODA provider of Vietnam in various fields,including infrastructure, poverty reduction, innovation, climate changeresponse, gender equality and startup support.

In tourism, Australian tourists to Vietnam have increased through years,reaching over 370,400 in 2017, making it one of the 10 leading source marketsof Vietnam’s tourism.

Australia is the fourth most favourite destination of Vietnamesestudents with about 30,000 Vietnamese students. Meanwhile, Vietnam is also oneof the five popular options for study of Australian students.

Along with economic cooperation, Vietnam and Australia have enjoyedeffective affiliation in all fields of politics-diplomacy, security-defence,science-technology and culture-education.

The two countries have maintained effective cooperation and coordinationat regional and global multilateral forums, especially the ASEAN Regional Forum(ARF), the East Asia Summit, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and theAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC).

In terms of defence, the two sides have expanded their cooperation tomany new areas on the foundation of the memorandum of understanding signed inJuly 2010. Australia has assisted Vietnam in improving capacity to join the UNpeacekeeping operations, along with cooperation in maritime and sea patrol.Australia has provided many English training scholarships for Vietnameseofficers.

In October 2017, the two sides held the first annual defence dialogue.They are now working to build a joint vision on defence cooperation.

Talking about theupcoming Australia visit of PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc from March 14-18, VietnameseAmbassador to Australia Ngo Huong Nam said that the visit will affirm Vietnam’sconsistent policy of prioritizing the enhancement of relations with Australia,for the benefits of the two nations’ people and for peace, security andprosperity in the region and the world.

The bilateralpartnership is strong enough to turn a new chapter, he said, holding that thevisit on the threshold of the ASEAN-Australia Summit shows that theVietnam-Australia relations have grown beyond bilateral framework and aresignificant to the region and the world.

At the same time,Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Craig Chittick said that he is optimisticabout the future of the Vietnam-Australia relations, especially when the twosides lift up their ties to strategic partnership. This is a strong effort ofboth sides to implement their commitments to develop bilateral relations, whilecreating favourable conditions for both countries to make more contributionsfor the growth of the region and the world, he said.-VNA