Visit to Vietnam by Australian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy
Ms Frances Adamson is visiting Vietnam from 27-28 June as the Special Envoy of Australian Prime Minister the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP.
At Mr Turnbull’s request, Ms Adamson, the first female head of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, met Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to discuss deepening the bilateral relationship between Australia and Vietnam.
Australia and Vietnam issued a Joint Statement on Enhancing the Comprehensive Partnership in March 2015 during then-Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Australia. Since then, the relationship between Australia and Vietnam have continued to strengthen, particularly across three key pillars of security, economic and innovation.
Australia and Vietnam share broad regional security interests, and defence links are expanding, including in new areas such as peacekeeping. The trade relationship between Australia and Vietnam continues to grow, with two way trade valued at A$10.5 billion (equivalent to 8 billion USD) in 2016.
New Vietnamese agricultural products are accessing Australian markets, including most recently dragon fruit. Australia also remains a committed partner for Vietnam’s development, with our biggest mainland South East Asia project, the Cao Lanh Bridge scheduled to be completed later this year.
Australia is a leading study destination for Vietnamese students, with around 22,500 Vietnamese students in Australia. Two-way tourism numbers continue to grow, with over 300,000 Australians visiting Vietnam each year, expanding mutual understanding between the peoples of each country.
Ms Adamson is also meeting Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Dinh Quy, Vice Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations Tran Dac Loi, and President of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Nguyen Vu Tung. These meetings were an opportunity to discuss the bilateral relationship, regional security issues, developments in the international trade environment and Vietnam’s priorities for APEC Leaders’ Week to be held in Da Nang this November.
For more information on the bilateral relationship, please see: http://dfat.gov.au/geo/vietnam/pages/vietnam.aspx