Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Friday said Vietnam and Australia should foster bilateral economic and trade cooperation for mutual benefit as well as contributing to regional and international development.

The prime minister asked the Australian side to cooperate with relevant Vietnamese agencies in taking measures to increase two-way trade, facilitate Australian investors to do business in Vietnam, and send more Vietnamese students to Australia.

He also urged both sides to actively implement agreements reached at the 8th meeting of the Vietnam-Australia Joint Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee (JTECC) that opened in Hanoi Friday.

Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc spoke of the need to identify measures to further strengthen cooperative relations between Vietnam and Australia in the APEC forum, and between Australia and the ASEAN grouping.

“We hope that our 8th meeting today will lay new foundations for strengthening the cooperation between Australia and Vietnam,” he said.

Simon Crean noted that the meeting was taking place between two other important meetings between leaders of the both countries, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Australia last October and the upcoming trip to Australia by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nong Duc Manh, in September.

Australia wants to boost relations with Vietnam particularly in the fields of trade, finance, agriculture, education and training, and infrastructure development, Crean said.

He announced Friday that Australia will provide AUD12 million (approximately US$10 million) to the five-year Beyond WTO program to maximize employment and poverty reduction benefits of Vietnam’s ongoing integration into the global economy.

Reported by Bao Van