Overview of the meeting. (Photo: Thanh Long)

Attending on the Australian side were Ambassador Gillian Bird, representatives from the Embassy, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. On the Vietnamese side were leaders from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of related ministries and sectors.

At the Dialogue, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong expressed gratitude to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong for her congratulatory message and to Deputy Secretary Michelle Chan for attending the third ASEAN Future Forum; he thanked Australia for its significant contributions to the success of the Forum.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong emphasized that Australia is a very important friend and partner to Vietnam in many fields, especially in development cooperation, education and training, defense, and trade.

Deputy Secretary Michelle Chan thanked the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the thoughtful and cordial reception; she expressed her delight at attending for the first time and congratulated Vietnam on successfully organizing the ASEAN Future Forum once again; she considered this a vivid testament to Vietnam's important role in connecting regional leaders and scholars to discuss the vision for ASEAN and the region.

The Deputy Minister emphasized that Australia is a strong and reliable partner of Vietnam and wishes to promote bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Member of the Party Central Committee, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cuong speaking at the meeting. (Photo: Thanh Long)

Both sides exchanged views on bilateral cooperation areas, reviewed the implementation of the Action Program for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Australia for the 2024-2027 period, and were pleased to note that the Vietnam - Australia relationship continues to develop steadily and effectively, with political trust continuously being consolidated and enhanced through high-level visits, contacts, and diverse consultations between agencies, ministries, sectors, and localities.

Both sides highly appreciated that 96% of the cooperation items in the Action Program for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership have been completed or are on schedule. Trade and investment relations are increasingly effective, with trade turnover in 2025 exceeding 14 billion USD; both sides successfully organized the first "Meet Australia 2026" event in May 2026 with the support of Ho Chi Minh City, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Austrade.

Australia continues to be one of Vietnam's largest development partners, with an average annual support value of over 96 million AUD for areas such as green transition, digital transformation, energy transition, enhancing private sector capacity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Australian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Michelle Chan speaking at the meeting. (Photo: Thanh Long)

Both sides agreed to closely coordinate and meticulously prepare for upcoming high-level exchanges, while promoting breakthrough measures to better exploit the potentials and advantages of both countries, bringing cooperation in various fields to a strategic depth, including cooperation in defense-security, trade-investment, science-technology, and people-to-people exchanges.

In the context of regional and global economic fluctuations and challenges, both sides emphasized the need for cooperation to strengthen resilience, economic autonomy, science, and technology, especially strategic technology and minerals.

Vietnam welcomes Australia's strong implementation of the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, in which Vietnam is a key partner; welcomes Australia's expansion of investment in areas such as green finance and climate change response. Both sides also agreed to boost the implementation of the Economic Connectivity Enhancement Strategy and consider further strengthening technological connectivity between the two countries.

Delegates taking a group photo. (Photo: Thanh Long)

Both sides shared assessments on the global and regional situation; they noted that the situation continues to evolve in a complex and unpredictable manner with many security and strategic challenges, impacting various aspects of the development environment of countries in the region, including Vietnam and Australia.

Both sides agreed to closely coordinate and support each other at regional and international forums, promote dialogue, build trust, uphold the rule of law, and enhance ASEAN's central role, contributing positively to building a peaceful, stable, cooperative, sustainably developing, and inclusive region.

Both sides emphasized the importance of maintaining peace, security, maritime and aviation safety, resolving disputes by peaceful means, based on international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).