Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh. (Photo: VNA)Sydney (VNA) - Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne on December 3 expressed her delight atthe positive development of the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership,considering this a firm foundation for the two countries to elevate bilateralties to a new high.
At a reception in the Australian capital Canberra for VietnameseAmbassador Nguyen Tat Thanh, Payne stressed that Vietnam and Australia havebecome important partners in various spheres, ranging from trade andagriculture to science and technology, national defence and security, educationand training, and people-to-people exchanges.
She used the occasion to congratulate Vietnam on excellently fulfilling its role as ASEAN Chair 2020 and its success in containing COVID-19.
The minister urged the ambassador to make more practical contributionsto bilateral relations so that the two countries will soon become leadingeconomic partners.
Payne affirmed that she and her department will closely coordinate withthe Vietnamese Embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to comprehensively promotebilateral cooperation.
The first job is to realise the 2020-2023 action programme on theimplementation of the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership, soon completethe enhanced economic engagement strategy, materialise multilateral agreementsto which both countries are signatories, and seek new agreements to boost economiclinks post-COVID-19.
For his part, Thanh expressed his honour at becoming the Vietnameseambassador to Australia, especially in the context of the two countriesstriving to advance the bilateral relationship towards celebrations of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2023.
He conveyed an invitation from Deputy Prime Minister and ForeignMinister Pham Binh Minh to the Australian minister to visit Vietnam at anappropriate time./.
VNA
