At the meeting, the Vietnamese diplomat noted that the two countries have strived to raise bilateral relations to a new height and promised to contribute to the process. He added that Vietnam and Australia have organised numerous activities to celebrate the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2018, including mutual visits by their high-ranking leaders.
The ambassador also conveyed Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh’s greetings and invitation to Minister Bishop to attend several important events within the framework of the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week held in the central city of Da Nang from November 6-11.
For her part, Bishop lauded the positive development of the enhanced comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Australia, saying it serves as a solid foundation to raise bilateral relations to a new level.
She stressed that the two countries have become each other’s important partners in various fields, including defence-security, trade, agriculture, science-technology, people-to-people exchange, and especially education-training.
Australia plans to send 1,500 students to Vietnam in the 2014-2018 period under the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan mobility programme.
The minister affirmed that Australia will continue to cooperate with Vietnam for the successful organisation of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week and speed up negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement after the US withdrew from the pact.
Bishop said she will accompany Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting next month.
On this occasion, the minister thanked Vietnam for supporting Australia to become a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018-2020.
