Canberra (VNA) – Prime Minister of Vietnam NguyenXuan Phuc and Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgrove hailed theimportance of the establishment of a strategic partnership between theircountries at a meeting in Canberra on March 15.

PM Phuc expressed his delight that his officialvisit coincided with the 45th founding anniversary of the two countries’diplomatic ties. 

Governor-General Cosgrove said he is impressedwith the breakthrough development of Vietnam’s economy in recent years,congratulating the country on its active integration and improving its role andstature in the region and the world, especially the successful organisation ofthe APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in 2017.

The two sides described the strategicpartnership establishment as a breakthrough in bilateral relations, creating anew framework and opportunities for cooperation in the pillar fields. Theyaffirmed the resolve to increase high-ranking visits and meetings and step uppeople-to-people exchange.

Cosgrove confirmed that he will pay an officialvisit to Vietnam in late May 2018 and consider this as a practical contributionto celebrations of the 45-year diplomatic relationship.

He underlined that people-to-people and culturalexchange and tourism cooperation provided a solid foundation for the strategicpartnership today as well as in the future.

There are currently nearly 30,000 Vietnamesestudents in Australia, more than 60,000 others who used to study in Australia,and over 1,000 under the New Colombo Plan. Nearly 500,000 Australians visitedthe Southeast Asian nation in 2017. Those are vivid evidence of the twocountries’ close-knit connections, he noted.

At the meeting, the two leaders agreed toenhance cooperation in security, defence, economy-trade-investment, education,labour, and science-technology in line with the countries’ strategicpartnership.

𓆏[Joint statement on establishment of Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership]

The Governor-General said the Vietnamesecommunity with over 300,000 people in Australia are making importantcontributions to and increasingly affirming their role in the localsocio-economic life, becoming a friendship bridge linking the two nations.

PM Phuc thanked and asked Australia to continuecreating favourable conditions for these expats to integrate into the localsociety and do more for bilateral ties.

Discussing some regional and internationalissues of shared concern, PM Phuc highly valued the ASEAN-Australia SpecialSummit hosted for the first time by Australia in Sydney. Meanwhile,Governor-General Cosgrove reiterated his country’s stance of supporting thepeaceful settlement of disputes in the East Sea and the compliance withinternational law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

After the meeting, Governor-General Cosgrovedrove a buggy taking PM Phuc and his spouse to see kangaroos in the grounds ofthe Government House, a special act showing Australia’s respect for Vietnam.

Later on March 15, the two leaders and theirspouses, along with Government officials of Vietnam and Australia, attended abanquet marking the 45th anniversary of the countries’ diplomatic relations.

In his speech, Governor-General Cosgrove saidAustralia is proud to have a friend like Vietnam and support Vietnam to developand achieve impressive growth and development attainments. He voiced his beliefthat the two countries’ connectivity will continue to flourish in the future.

PM Phuc also expressed his belief in a brightfuture of bilateral relations, particularly when the strategic partnership isimplemented in all aspects, for the sake of the two peoples and for a peacefuland prosperous Asian-Pacific region.-VNA