Vietnam and Australia established diplomatic relations on February 26, 1973. To build a framework to strengthen bilateral relations, the two countries established the Comprehensive Partnership in 2009, which was enhanced in 2015. With the desire to open a new chapter in Vietnam- Australia relations, the two countries upgraded their relations to a Strategic Partnership in 2018, making the bilateral cooperation more substantive.
Over the past years, Vietnam-Australia relations have continued to develop strongly on both bilateral and multilateral levels. Through maintaining delegation exchanges and high-level contacts, political relations between the two countries have become closer and more reliable. This is the foundation for reaping more positive achievements in many other fields.
As two complementary economies and both participating in new-generation free trade agreements, Vietnam and Australia have gained many achievements in economic and trade cooperation, bringing practical benefits to both sides. After surpassing the 10 billion USD threshold for the first time in 2021, the bilateral trade turnover continued to grow, reaching 13.4 billion USD in just the first 10 months of 2022.
Cooperation in education and training between the two countries is also expanding because this is the need of Vietnam and the strength of Australia. Vietnam currently has about 30,000 students and research fellows studying in Australia. Cooperation in defence-security, agriculture, and labour between the two countries, has also achieved substantive results and still has a lot of potential to be exploited.
Over the past years, Vietnam has always received a steady source of official development assistance (ODA) from Australia, in the areas of economic reform, livelihood improvement, gender equality, and others. According to the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget, Australia’s ODA for Vietnam is 92.8 million AUD, higher than the previous fiscal year.
Vietnam and Australia have increased the exchange of high-level delegations at all levels, across all channels and stepped up the Action Programme to implement the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership in the 2020-2023 period. The two countries have also made efforts to effectively implement the Action Plan for the 2021-2025 period to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation, in areas the two sides have strengths and needs. Along with the pillar areas of cooperation, the two sides have also expanded cooperation to new fields, such as energy, climate change combat, green growth, and digital economy, contributing to creating an impetus for more comprehensive and substantive relations.
In multilateral cooperation, Vietnam and Australia have worked closely on many issues of common concern, at regional and international forums and organisations, such as the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Not only are they a key partner of Vietnam in the South Pacific region, but Australia is also a comprehensive strategic partner of ASEAN. Vietnam is also a friend and a close partner of Australia in ASEAN and the region. Sharing many common interests and views, Vietnam and Australia are committed to strengthening ASEAN’s central role in a region of peace, stability and prosperity.
To mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the two countries will coordinate to organise many celebration activities in 2023, such as the exchange of delegations, art programmes, people-to-people exchanges, and others. These meaningful activities will contribute to fostering friendship, enhancing mutual understanding and raising awareness of the two peoples, about the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership.
Before launching activities this year, the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia and the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, launched a logo design contest to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. With the image of five boomerangs linked together to form a five-pointed star, the winning logo symbolises the bond between Vietnam and Australia. This logo will be used in many celebration events in both countries in 2023.
As Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh once commented, the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership has matured to prepare for a new phase. Based on the achievements between the two countries over the past years, the leaders of both sides supported the consideration of upgrading the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, at an appropriate time for the sake of the people of the two countries, as well as for peace, cooperation and development in the region. According to Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski, 2023 is not only an opportunity for the two sides to look back on their achievements, but also to look forward to the future of deeper friendship and partnership.
