In the joint statement issued after the meeting on October 8, the two sides assessed that the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Partnership and the accompanying action plan had created more impetus for the realization of the common goal to bring the two countries into the top 10 trading partners of each other and double investment in each country. The two sides were pleased to acknowledge the progress of developing a strategy to strengthen economic cooperation between Vietnam and Australia, and expressed their hope that this strategy will be efficiently implemented this year.
Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan (Photo: VNA)
The joint statement said the strategy would reinforce the two countries' shared commitment to trade liberalization and economic connectivity. The strategy recognizes huge two-way business opportunities across a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, energy and resources, manufacturing, tourism and hotels, education and professional services, and technology and digital economy. Given the economic challenges and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of the strategy is on economic recovery.
At the meeting, the two sides also discussed progress in promoting high-quality, productive investment, in line with the national interests of both countries, and welcomed many Australian and Vietnamese corporations for their active participation as well as implementing investment projects in both countries. The two ministers also discussed the important contributions that Vietnam-Australia development cooperation and broader economic partnership can make to support Vietnam's economic growth and reform agenda, in particular during the context of the global economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two sides noted the support of partners for Vietnam's COVID-19 prevention and post-pandemic recovery, including Australia's commitment to share about 5.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine with Vietnam, of which more than 700,000 doses have been delivered.
Also at this meeting, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Chi Dung and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan announced a number of businesses of the two countries that are pioneering in further promoting two-way trade and investment links. These are TH Group, Vietcombank and Hoa Phat Group of Vietnam, and Aurecon Company, RMIT University and SunRice Group of Australia.
As of the end of August, Australia is the 10th largest trading partner, the 18th export market and the 8th largest import market of Vietnam. In terms of investment cooperation, Australia ranks 19th out of 141 countries and territories having investment projects in Vietnam, and 10th out of 78 countries and territories with overseas investment projects of Vietnam. In development cooperation, Australia is one of the largest non-refundable official development assistance (ODA) partners for Vietnam./.