Vietnam and Australia established diplomatic relations in 1973. The two countries upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive partnership in 2009 and a strategic partnership in 2018. Last March, Vietnam and Australia upgraded their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, opening a new phase in bilateral relations.
Over the past 50 years, the bilateral relationship has maintained positive and effective development in all fields. The two sides regularly exchange delegations and hold meetings at all levels and through all channels.
Defence and security cooperation has developed substantively. The two countries have established a peacekeeping partnership and forged active cooperation in the fields of transnational crime prevention and combat, cyber security and so on.
Vietnam and Australia are currently among each other’s top ten trading partners. In 2023, the bilateral trade value reached nearly 14 billion USD. As of December 2023, Australia had invested 2 billion USD in 621 projects in Vietnam, while Vietnam poured 552 million USD into 92 projects in Australia.
Australia is one of the largest providers of non-refundable official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam. Australian ODA helped Vietnam improve its capacity to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australia is always among the top 15 sources of foreign tourists to Vietnam. The two sides promote cooperation in several new and potential areas, such as climate change response, green economy, circular economy, digital transformation and energy transition.
The relationship between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Australian Parliament has developed well on both bilateral and multilateral bases, making an important contribution to the overall relationship between the two countries.
The 15th National Assembly established the Vietnam-Australia Friendship Parliamentary Group. The Australia-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Group was also established. The cooperation agreement between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Australian Parliament signed in 2022 created a new legal basis and momentum to deepen the relationship between the two countries’ legislative bodies.
In multilateral cooperation, the two countries collaborate and support each other at regional and international forums. Australia supports Vietnam’s United Nations Human Rights Council membership for the 2023-2025 term.
At regional and international inter-parliamentary forums, such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), the two sides enhance exchanges and work closely together on regional and international issues of common interest.
In July, on behalf of the Australian Government and Parliament, President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines travelled to Vietnam to attend the state funeral of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. This demonstrated the deep affection and respect of Senate President Sue Lines personally, as well as Australian leaders, for General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and the relationship between the two countries.
In response to the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines is paying an official visit to Vietnam to promote understanding and trust between the leaders of the two countries’ legislative bodies.
As an activity to concretise the signed cooperation agreement and in line with the content of the comprehensive strategic partnership, the visit will further strengthen the relationship between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Australian Parliament.
The visit also aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in potential areas, including economy-trade, digital economy, green transformation, energy transformation, agriculture, labour, education, science-technology, natural resources and the environment, tourism, culture and people-to-people exchange.
May the official visit to Vietnam by Australian Senate President Sue Lines be a great success, contributing to further strengthening and fostering cooperation between the two countries’ legislative bodies to be commensurate with their comprehensive strategic partnership.
