Australian General Governor’s trip will show and further enhance the warmth relationship and strategic trust between the two countries. (Photo: WVR/Viet Nguyen)

At the invitation of President Vo Van Thuong, Australian Governor General David Hurley will pay a State visit to Vietnam from April 3^rd to April 6^th. On this occasion, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski has addressed the press on the significance of the visit on March 30^th.

Could you point out the purpose and the significance of the Governor General of Australia David Hurley upcoming visit to Vietnam?

Thank you very much. It is a very important visit for us. Governor General David Hurley is our Head of State. He is the number one person in protocol terms in Australia. For him to be conducting the visit to Vietnam has a lot of symbolic importances. It is only the third time that our Head of State has visited Vietnam.

Of course, he is coming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. We are building a great program around him and he is only the first of a number of important visitors who come to visit Vietnam.

What are the highlight activities of the upcoming visit during his time in Vietnam?

The most important activities would be the high-level meetings.

Governor General Hurley will be received by all four leaders of Vietnam. Of course, he will be received by the President, the host of the visit. It will also be the first State visit that President Vo Van Thuong will receive, so that would be important as well.

Governor General Hurley will also meet with the General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue.

He met with Mr. Vuong Dinh Hue last December when the Chairman visited Australia, so he is not unfamiliar with Vietnam. In fact, he once visited Vietnam as the Deputy Head of our Defense Force, so he already understands and likes Vietnam very much. I think this would be the highlight of our anniversary year.

In addition to the high-level meeting, the Governor General will meet some alumni graduated from Australian Universities here in Vietnam. This morning, I just met the Head of Alumni Association and we want to strengthen those links. He will be visiting educational establishments, like RMIT in Ho Chi Minh City.

Generally speaking, he tries to understand and to celebrate he relationship between Australia and Vietnam. At the Embassy, he will give medals to Vietnamese staff who have been working with us for years. It is a way of showing respect to those who have been helping us to foster the bilateral relationship.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (right) meets Governor General of Australia David Hurley and Spouse on November 30, 2022. (Source: VNA)

From your point of view, how will the visit contribute to the process of promoting and upgrading the two countries to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Australia?

I think there are two parts to my answer.

First of all, our Strategic Partnership is built around practical activities and there is a lot of things happening around Vietnam and Australia at the moment.

For example, this morning, I just met with the Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan to discuss on expanding our partnership of cooperation in the healthcare sectors. This promotion of cooperation is happening across so many sectors.

Aside from that, since my tenure in Vietnam, I have learnt that Vietnamese valued very much what the Vietnamese leader calls the “strategic trust”. In a time of change and uncertainty, where Australia and Vietnam will be facing many challenges, we have chosen each other as trusted friends. We have decided that to work and meet these challenges together, whether they are economic, security challenges or environmental issues. We will work together in our partnership in a way that reflects the warmth of the relationship between two countries.

The Governor General’s visit will serve to really amplify that, to consolidate the strategic trust that exists between two countries at the people-to-people level like between you and me, but also at the high-level.

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Australian Ambassador Andrew Goledzinowski attended the 50th anniversary of Australia-Vietnam bilateral relations on February 24th. (Photo: Tua Anh)

What is your opinion on the state of Vietnam-Australia relationship during the 50th year anniversary? What areas will become the driving force for bilateral relations in the upcoming times?

Well, there are so many bright spots. It is like looking up at the night sky, you cannot really identify one single bright spot because there are so many.

First, I will mention trade because our trade has grown very fast in recent years. This reflects not only Vietnam’s growing prosperity, but also the complementary nature of our two economies. Now Australia has risen very fast to become Vietnam’s seventh largest trading partner.

Agricultural cooperation is very important, not just in selling products to each other. As we are in different hemispheres, North and South, there is a seasonal complement which facilitates trade. In the Embassy, we have two different researches organizations which do a lot of cooperations, with the Vietnamese sides in promoting new methods of farming, particularly one which has a low-carbon footprint which will enable sustainability into the low-carbon economy which Vietnam is building.

We also work on innovation, artificial intelligence, better use of the Internet and satellite communication to promote, for example, water management in Vietnam.

We also have a team here who are promoting education. The University of South Australia leadership team is here in Vietnam at the moment. There are 300 different partnerships between Australia universities and Vietnamese institutions. We are expanding that further.

In defense, when the Governor General is here next week, at the invitation of your President, he will be meeting Vietnamese Peacekeepers. There is an important cooperation between Australia and Vietnam, which we intend to continue growing. We cooperate in border security, law enforcement. We have a very strong team of police here who are working with the Vietnamese side to combat human trafficking, drug smuggling and a variety of other transnational crimes.

There are so many other activities that we are doing, but they are all built around strong strategic trust and a strong people-to-people link between the two countries.

Thank you very much!

Conference "Vietnam-Australia: Unlocking Opportunities in Educatio and Agrifood 2023" on March 27th, 2023. (Photo: Australian Embassy in Hanoi)