Australia will put Vietnam as the focus of the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 it is developing and continue enhancing cooperation with the Mekong Sub-region, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi on June 3.

The Australian Prime Minister paid an official visit to Vietnam from June 3-4.

The two Prime Ministers expressed delight at the fine and effective development of bilateral relations in all fields, with economic cooperation being a bright spot.

Two-way trade turnover reached nearly $16 billion in 2022, up 30 per cent against 2021, putting the two sides among each other’s ten largest trading partners.

They agreed to promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation, including effectively carrying out the plan on implementing the Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES) for 2021-2025; reinforce the two economies’ connectivity; and step up cooperation in defense, security, official development assistance (ODA), education and training, science and technology, labor, transport, tourism, climate change response, and digital transformation.

Prime Minister Chinh affirmed that favorable conditions are in place for Australian businesses to invest in Vietnam in fields such as infrastructure, telecommunications, banking and finance, education, high-tech agriculture, green transition, and digital transformation.

The two Prime Ministers also agreed to develop relations between the two countries to a new level in the future.