Politburo member and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan met with Australian leaders in Canberra on December 3, voicing his hope that his city will become a strategic partner of Australia in terms of education and innovation.

Politburo member and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee
Nguyen Thien Nhan (centre), Speaker of the House of Representative of
Australia Tony Smith (second, right) and other officials at the meeting
in Canberra on December 3 (Photo: VNA) 

The meetings with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Speaker of the House of Representative Tony Smith and Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham were part of Nhan’s working visit to Australia at the invitation of the country’s Government.

At the events, the HCM City official highly valued the two countries’ flourishing relations in multiple spheres, including trade, investment, education, agriculture, defence and development assistance, especially since their ties were lifted to the strategic partnership in 2018.

He said he believes amidst that favourable context and opportunities generated by international free trade agreements, relations between Vietnam, including HCM City, and Australia will develop more strongly in the coming time, noting that bilateral cooperation not only benefits both countries but also holds a strategic significance to peace, stability and prosperity in Asia-Pacific.

Vietnam hopes that the two sides will soon build an action plan for implementing the strategic partnership for 2020 – 2030 and design a strategy for enhanced economic cooperation so as to be among the top 10 trade partners of each other and double bilateral investment, Nhan said.

He affirmed that Vietnam always creates favourable conditions for Australian businesses to invest in such fields as hi-tech agriculture, infrastructure, higher education, vocational training, information technology and Industry 4.0 technology.

On December 4, Nhan had meetings in Melbourne city with Governor Linda Marion Dessau and Premier Daniel Andrews of Victoria state.

At the sessions, he welcomed the state’s efforts to strengthen connections with HCM City as seen through the Governor’s visit to the city in October and the intention to set up a Victoria chamber of commerce and investment in the southern hub.

The official pledged to provide the best possible conditions for the establishment and operations of this chamber. He also expressed his hope for the opening of a similar chamber of HCM City in Victoria.

The two localities boast huge cooperation potential such as in innovation, education, technology and trade, the official noted, calling on Victoria to invest in, transfer technology to and share experience with HCM City in urban planning, public transport, environmental improvement, water management, innovation and startup.

As Victoria also accommodates a big number of Vietnamese people, Nhan asked the state’s authorities to create conditions for their development, describing the community as a useful bridge for cooperation between the two countries and the two localities.

Also on December 4, Nhan had a working session with the RMIT University, during which he said the city is boosting programmes on raising the quality of the human resources, as well as building a smart city. In the time to come, the southern hub will need a huge contingent of workers, both Vietnamese and foreign, to work at research and application centres, the official said, asking the education institution to train personnel in the fields the city needs.

Welcoming the proposal, representatives of the RMIT affirmed they will join hands in carrying out those projects.

The same day, Nhan and his delegation visited the William Angliss Academy which specialises on training experts in the fields of hotel management, tourism and food. The official expressed his hope for the municipal authorities to learn experiences, expertise and skills from the academy, and witnessed the signing of a comprehensive cooperation document between the city-based Van Lang University and the academy in high-end tourism training.