Opening Remarks – Meeting with the President of the National Assembly of Vietnam
VƯƠNG ĐÌNH HUỆ, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF VIETNAM: I am confident that your visit will be a great success. And it will make meaningful contributions to further strengthening the strategic partnership between our two countries, with a view to upgrading our bilateral ties, elevating our bilateral ties to a new height – a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Australia in the time to come. I myself paid a very fruitful visit to Australia last December, as you are well informed. And once again, let me take this opportunity to extend my thanks to you, Mr Prime Minister, and the members of the Australian Cabinet, and your Deputy Prime Minister and other ministers for having spent the time for their meetings with me and my delegation. I will also like to extend my thanks to the very warm welcome and cordial reception extended to me and my delegation back then, a visit with a very effective and substantive working agenda. It also owes much to the work of our two embassies and two ambassadors. I’m also delighted to learn that Prime Minister Minh Chinh held bilateral talks with you, Mr Prime Minister, and it has been very successful. And in this meeting, I stand ready to exchange views with you on issues pertaining to the overarching relationship between our two countries, and the relationship between our two legislative branches, so that it can live up to the skill of our strategic partnership at present, and at a time when our two countries are discussing the potential of upgrading relations in the time to come. Now, I wish to hear from you, Mr Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Your Excellency, for a very warm welcome to Vietnam. And I’m pleased to meet with you again, having seen you in Australia just last year. And you are, of course, Your Excellency, the most senior Australian alumnus in Vietnam. And I can’t think of a better role model for the benefits of our education cooperation. Vietnam is Australia’s fifth-largest source of international students. Australia is the second most popular destination for Vietnamese students. We want to be the first. We want to improve in the future. And RMIT, which I visited yesterday, is the premier example of our close education links. And their announcement of a $250 million investment here in Vietnam is a sign, that this education relationship and cooperation will just go from strength to strength in the future. I did have a very successful meeting with your Prime Minister this morning. A good one on one discussion, and then a good bilateral meeting. And one of the things that we discussed, my government’s commitment to a Southeast Asia economic strategy to 2040. And recently, Mr Nicolas Moore visited Vietnam, as well as our Governor-General, His Excellency, David Hurley, as well as my Trade and Tourism Minister, Senator Don Farrell. So we have had a lot of contact, just this year, but we will have more in the future. We understand the centrality of ASEAN to this region and to its operation. And we believe that the economic ties between us can be even stronger in the future. Trade grew with Vietnam by 40 per cent last year, and that reflects the economic dynamism which is here. A dynamism that I’ve seen on my visits during the period, first beginning in 1986, for my first visit here in Vietnam. So I’m very pleased to be here on my first visit as Prime Minister, and I look forward to our discussion today, and to increase the engagement between our respective parliamentary bodies, but also between our people to people links as well, and strengthening those relationships in the future. Thank you.