Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison reaffirmed his commitments to foster the strategic partnership with Viet Nam during his reception for Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung on Monday. 

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung (left) pays courtesy call
on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo: VGP

Dung, who is on four-day visit to Australia, conveyed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s greetings to Morrison, expressing deep sympathies to Australia over damages caused by serious forest fires recently.

Dung and Morrison agreed that both countries should step up cooperation at multilateral forums and work together to ensure peace and stability in the East Sea on the basis of respect for international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung holds talks with
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. Photo: VGP

The same day, Dung held talks with his Australian counterpart Michael McCormack, during which, the two sides extensively exchanged views on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concerns.

The pair expressed their pleasure at the vigorous and comprehensive growth of the bilateral ties, especially since the establishment of strategic partnership in March last year.

The two Deputy PMs pledged to coordinate closely in implementing their senior leaders’ agreements and the outcomes of Morrison’s official visit to Viet Nam in last August.

Dung extended thanks to the Government of Australia for having maintained official development assistance to Viet Nam, particularly infrastructure development, human resource training, poverty reduction, ruran development, and climate change adaptation.

He called on Australian investors to increase investment in such priority areas like energy, mining, digital economy, telecommunication and tourism.

The two Deputy PMs also showed their pleasure at the two countries’ effective cooperation at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations, ASEAN-led mechanisms, and regional free trade agreements.

They underlined the significance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation as well as the rule of law in the East Sea.

Deputy PM McCormack affirmed Australia supports and will coordinate with Viet Nam in 2020 as the country assumes the role as ASEAN Chair and non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

On the occasion, Deputy PM Dung met with Australian Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews and Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie./.