It will support the ASEAN-Australia Plan of Action to implement the Strategic Partnership, notably by enhancing defence cooperation
A source from the Embassy of Australia in Hanoi said on March 20th that starting 2019, Australia will fund one representative from each ASEAN state, including Vietnam to study in Australia and an Australian scholar.
2017 Vietnamese Post Graduates Defence Scholarship students at the Defence International Training Centre, Laverton, Victoria.
Vietnamese Defence students at RAAF Williams, Laverton, Victoria - 2017.
Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Australian Minister for Defence inspecting the Computers Assisted Language Lab at Unit 871, Hanoi, Vietnam in 2017. (Photos courtesy: Australian Embassy in Hanoi)
“This program will be the first of its kind for ASEAN defence officials. It will see ASEAN’s and Australia’s best and brightest working together to share their experiences and develop their strategic thinking. It will help us build our collective capacity to deliver sophisticated and effective regional defence cooperation in a dynamic regional security environment,” said Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Australian Minister for Defence.
According to Colonel Nerolie McDonald, the Australian Defence Attaché to Vietnam, the nation commenced the Defence Cooperation Program with Vietnam in 1999. Since then, it has provided more than 2,000 training positions for Vietnamese defence personnel including Defence scholarships in Australia and Vietnam.
ASEAN and Australia share common security concerns and regional challenges, and have been working together to achieve the common goal of protecting and promoting a stable rules-based global order.
Australia strongly supports the contribution of the ASEAN-led regional security architecture to security and stability in Southeast Asia. This includes fostering practical defence cooperation within the ADMM-Plus framework./.