Graham Alliband

Director of Aus4Skills and Former Australian Ambassador to Vietnam

“We [Vietnam and Australia] share a lot of common values. We have a relationship based on trust, which I think is very important. Maybe we will move towards a comprehensive strategic partnership. At least I think a higher level of relationship to reflect the level of closeness between the two countries will certainly take place.”

First arriving in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) in 1972 as a young diplomat, more than fifty years later Graham Alliband is still contributing to the relationship between Australia and Vietnam.

Graham was appointed the Australian Ambassador in Vietnam between 1988 - 1991 (which he thinks partly because he speaks Vietnamese).In an interview with Tuoi Tre newspaper, he recalls being the first Western Ambassador to recruit local Vietnamese staff directly and not go through the Service Department for Foreign Diplomatic Corps and also the first Ambassador to be allowed to invite the families of Embassy staff to the Embassy for social functions, including the celebration of Tet.

Having a deep understanding of the country in different historical contexts, he identified key areas to support Vietnam, including the Australia Awards Vietnam Programme, the Capacity Building for Effective Governance (CEG), and the Vietnam-Australia English Language Training.

For English especially, he very early on saw that it could be a crucial tools to help Vietnam engage with the international community more easily, and so he organised for the first Australian English teacher to work in Vietnam on a voluntary basis. He also provided textbooks and equipment to five universities between 1997 and 2002. “We've had a major impact two universities in particular where we promoted short term training. As a result, these universities have changed in many respects. They've changed the way they operate, develop, they've changed their curriculum, established partnerships with Australian universities.”

Now based in Sydney, Australia, Graham is an advisor for Aus4Skills, a 10-year programme to help Vietnam improve its human resource capacity through scholarships, higher education, strengthening the vocational education and training (VET) sector, supporting leadership development in the public service, and alumni engagement through the Vietnam – Australia Centre (VAC).

Aus4Skills’ programmes are designed to help Vietnam respond to social and economic needs sustainably by helping its workforce develops technical knowledge, skills and competencies. “Under the VET programme, which was the first program I managed, we were able to conduct many short term training programmes for provincial officials in things like culture, social development, environmental protection. And I think these programs were very important, and I think they have important results.”

Thousands of Vietnamese students have also benefitted from the Australia Awards scholarships, and thousands more from short term training. They, in turn, have contributed to Vietnam in various fields, some even hold important positions in the government and universities.

Besides education, Graham also helped facilitate diplomatic, economic and aid agreements that have strengthened Australia – Vietnam links.

“We have a lot of shared values as international relations. We have relations of trust, which I think is very important,” Graham commented on the two countries’ bilateral relationship.

In 2019, he received an honorary doctorate from Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry as recognition for his half a century long contribution to Vietnam and in June 2023, he was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia for service to the international community of Vietnam