LookAtVietnam – Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh was welcomed at the airport in Canberra on September 6, by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

Australian PM K. Rudd (Right) welcomes Party leader Manh at the airport. (Photo: VOV)

Manh is accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem; Secretary of the Party Central Committee, PCC, and head of the Party Office Ngo Van Du; head of the PCC’s Commission for External Relations Hoang Binh Quan; Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc; Industry and Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang, Education and Training Deputy Minister Pham Vu Luan and Assistant to the Party General Secretary Ho Tien Nghi.

Manh’s visit aims at affirming Viet Nam’s policy of continuously attaching importance to consolidate and develop friendly relations and multi-faceted co-operation with Australia and New Zealand. Viet Nam also wants to establish comprehensive partnership relations with the two countries.

Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd affirmed in a media release published in his official website that Viet Nam was a highly valued partner for Australia in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Viet Nam is one of Australia’s most dynamic trading partners in Southeast Asia, with bilateral trade growing an average of 20 per cent per year over the last five years to reach AUD8 billion in 2008,” Rudd noted, adding that Australian investment in Viet Nam was worth more than AUD500 million last year.

The PM said the Australia visit by Manh “will be an opportunity to discuss how this important relationship can be taken forward”.

On the eve of Manh’s visit to Australia, Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Thanh Tan told a Vietnam News Agency correspondent that the visit would deepen the friendship and comprehensive co-operation between the two countries.

Tan said he believed that bilateral ties would continue to develop strongly, especially in trade and education.

Ambassador Tan said the visit would be an important milestone in Vietnamese-Australian relations and mark the growing friendship and comprehensive co-operation shown between the two countries.

He said that over the past 36 years, since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1973, their relationship had led to many great achievements and was constantly developing.

In recent years, the two countries had regularly held exchanges at all levels. Joint initiatives in education and training, trade, tourism, defence and security had also increased. In addition they now worked closer together at regional and international forums.

Tan said the effectiveness of bilateral relations could be improved by working out practical frameworks for co-operation in each field and for certain periods.

Australian official development assistance to Viet Nam had risen, reaching AUD106 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Australia had opened up more banks in Viet Nam and it continued to invest in a number of important economic fields.

The number of Australian visitors to Viet Nam had also increased, pushing it into the top 10 countries in the world to send tourists to the country.

Tan said he believed that at this rate, especially when the ASEAN-Australia Free Trade Agreement took effect, trade and tourism between Viet Nam and Australia would expand significantly.

In education, Australia was an excellent destination for Vietnamese students, he said. Australian universities and training centres continued to attract more and more Vietnamese students.

More than 17,000 Vietnamese students were studying in Australia and another 14,000 were at Australian schools in Viet Nam.

Tan pointed out that those trainees were invaluable for the nation’s economic development and an important link between Viet Nam and Australia.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News