Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Thursday held a phone conversation with Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to discuss bilateral and regional cooperation between the two countries amid COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison walk from
the Presidential Palace to the Government Headquarters for their summit meeting on
the morning of August 23, 2019 on the occasion of the latter's official visit to Viet Nam.
Photo: VGP

Phuc briefed Morrison about the outcomes and shared Viet Nam’s experience in the fight against COVID-19, emphasizing that the measures taken so far by the Vietnamese Government aim to protect its citizens and foreign nationals as well.

He extended thanks to the Government of Australia for offering technical support for Viet Nam to mitigate negative impacts of the pandemic while affirming Viet Nam, in its capacity, also stands ready to provide medical equipment support to Australia.

Morrrison spoke highly of the Vietnamese Government’s efforts and measures to cope with COVID-19, expressing his wish to strengthen cooperation and mutual support with Viet Nam in this fight.

He affirmed his Government would create favorable conditions for Vietnamese students to continue studies in Australia.

The Australian PM also highly valued the role and initiatives of Viet Nam as the current ASEAN Chair, pledging to continue supporting and collaborating closely with the Southeast Asian country over regional and international issues of shared concerns in order to accelerate cooperation in response to common challenges for peace and stability in the region and the world.

The two PMs agreed to continue joint efforts to further deepen the trusted strategic partnership between the two countries, maintain high-level, foreign ministerial, defense ministerial, and economic ministerial contacts.

The pair also agreed to prepare measures to restore tourism, aviation and people-to-people exchanges after the pandemic is contained./.