State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted a meeting for visiting Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan in Hanoi on July 13.

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) meets visiting Australian Minister
for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan (Photo: VNA)

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted a meeting for visiting Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan in Hanoi on July 13.

Welcoming Minister Tehan and the Australian delegation to visit Vietnam, the President said he believes the visit will contribute to strengthening the Vietnam-Australia partnership with economic-trade cooperation as the core.

President Phuc thanked the Australian Government for pledging to provide 40 million AUD (29.9 million USD) to help Vietnam access COVID-19 vaccines and 1.5 million doses of Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine to aid the country's COVID-19 fight.

He noted that both Vietnam and Australia are among each other’s group of 11 largest trade partners, and Australia is the 19th biggest FDI investor among 132 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 526 projects worth nearly 1.92 billion USD (as of June 2021). He proposed that the two sides further promote bilateral collaboration by removing obstacles facing their businesses.

As active members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which took effect in 2018, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is expected to take effect soon, Vietnam and Australia are eying new cooperation motivations that are hoped to benefit business communities and people of both countries, he said.

For his part, Minister Tehan affirmed that he will do his utmost to continue connecting cooperation plans between the two sides.
He spoke of Vietnam’s achievements in implementing the dual targets, and said that the pandemic will continue to cause many challenges. The two countries should strengthen cooperation and mutual support in the time to come, he said.

On the occasion, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc extended his best regards to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morison. He expressed his belief that after the visit, the Vietnam-Australia partnership in all fields, especially in trade, will be further developed./.