Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski has emphasised the significance of the upcoming trip to Australia by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).
PM Chinh and his spouse will attend the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Australia dialogue relations, and pay official visits to Australia and New Zealand from March 5-11.
His attendance at the summit and visits will be made at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon.
According to the ambassador, the PM’s official visit to Australia is “incredibly important” as it comes after the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties last year when all important Australian leaders came to Vietnam.
PM Chinh is one of the three ASEAN leaders to pay an official bilateral visit to Australia next week, he said, noting that Australia highly values the importance of Vietnam as well as the bilateral relationship, which is expected to grow further following the visit.
According to Goledzinowski, the Vietnam-Australia relationship covers all spheres, but PM Chinh’s visit will focus on the five areas of political and strategic understanding; economy and trade; education; energy transition and climate change; and knowledge, innovation and science.
The diplomat revealed that Australia now has a new economic policy towards Vietnam, which will be announced by the Australian PM on this occasion, and expected to help attract more Australian investments to the Southeast Asian nation.
Asked about the bilateral cooperation in renewable energy, Goledzinowski said some leading Australian companies and groups are scheduled to hold meetings with PM Chinh to talk about specific investment opportunities.
“Vietnam has amazing prospects in solar and offshore wind and other renewable energy sources. So I think there's a great deal that Australia and Vietnam can do together,” he said.
Regarding the summit, the ambassador said Australia was the very first country to enter into a dialogue partnership with ASEAN, and four years ago, Australia became the grouping’s first comprehensive strategic partner.
Australia wants to further strengthen economic engagement with ASEAN, he said, noting that the bloc is now the country’s second most important trade partner.
“So we want to build on that. And we also want to build on our strategic and political cooperation in the region,” he stressed.
“For us, we talk about ASEAN’s centrality. ASEAN is at the heart of our regional strategy. And we hope that this summit will further strengthen ASEAN’s role in maintaining stability, peace and dialogue in our part of the world,” the ambassador said.
