Australia's ASEAN Senior Official Visits Vietnam

Australia’s ASEAN Senior Official and Deputy Secretary of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Katrina Cooper, visited Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi on 2-4 March to discuss bilateral ties and ASEAN’s 2022 agenda.

During her visit, Deputy Secretary Cooper held talks with Chair of the External Relations Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam Le Hoai Trung, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, and acting ASEAN Senior Official Vu Ho, in which she discussed the increasing depth and breadth of political, economic, and security and defence cooperation under the Australia-Vietnam Strategic Partnership, as well as key regional issues.

On ASEAN, Deputy Secretary Cooper discussed Australia and Vietnam’s respective priorities for 2022 and outlined plans to further strengthen Australia’s ties with ASEAN under the historic ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, agreed by ASEAN Leaders in 2021. Deputy Secretary Cooper also discussed Australia and ASEANs’ perspectives on key regional challenges, including Myanmar, and how the two sides can continue to work together to promote a stable, resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

Deputy Secretary Cooper met with leading business executives in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to discuss opportunities for implementing the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES). In Hanoi, Deputy Secretary Cooper met with representatives of Vietcombank and Hoa Phat Group, who, as two of Vietnam’s appointed Business Champions under the EEES, promote trade and investment opportunities to business communities in Vietnam and Australia.

Deputy Secretary Cooper also participated in a roundtable discussion at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on regional and sub-regional strategic issues,and met with development partners and UN agency representatives to discuss Australia’s development assistance to Vietnam, including Australia’s AUD60 million comprehensive package to support Vietnam’s national COVID-19 vaccine rollout and completed delivery of 7.8 million vaccine doses.