Australian PM’s Vietnam visit to give impulse to bilateral ties: Ambassador

The upcoming visit to Vietnam by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will create momentum for bilateral cooperation in such potential areas as culture, investment, labour and people-to-people exchanges, Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh has said.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s resident correspondents in Sydney ahead of the PM’s trip from June 3-4, Thanh said the visit takes place at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 50th founding anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties and the 5th anniversary of the strategic partnership.

This is the second official visit to a Southeast Asian nation by PM Albanese since he took office, and the third to Vietnam by an Australian PM, the ambassador said, noting that the trip shows PM Albanese’s administration attaches importance to Vietnam.

Thanh also recalled the visit to Vietnam by Australian Governor-General David Hurley in April, which was his only State-level visit to a Southeast Asian nation, and another trip to Vietnam by Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell in the same month.

In June 2022, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong selected Vietnam as the first ASEAN country to pay an official visit. Five months later, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles visited Vietnam and implemented the first annual defence dialogue at the ministerial level between the two countries.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

Meanwhile, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue was the first high-ranking leader of Vietnam to visit Australia in the past five years, he said, recalling other trips by Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Internal Affairs Phan Dinh Trac and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.

Notably, following their phone talks in October 2022, PM Pham Minh Chinh and his Australian counterpart Albanese met on the occasion of the ASEAN Summit in November of the same year and the G7 Summit last May. Also in May, Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong had a meeting with PM Albanese on the occasion of the coronation of King Charles III of the UK.

Thanh expressed his belief that with efforts of the two sides, the upcoming visit will create a foundation for the bilateral ties to grow further, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

According to the diplomat, PM Albanese, who is also leader of the Australian Labour Party, is scheduled to meet with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong as part of his trip. Their meeting is expected to consolidate strategic confidence and lay a ground for the bilateral relations in the coming decades.