(VOVWORLD) -National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan arrived in Canberra on Wednesday to begin a 4-day official visit to Australia. The visit shows both countries’ wish to honor their impending Strategic Partnership and the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.
 National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan
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The visit is of great importance to enhancing mutual understanding and trust between the two legislative bodies and cooperative ties in economics, trade, agriculture, education, science, environment, tourism, and people exchange.
Cooperative achievements
After 45 years of diplomatic ties, Vietnam and Australia have become strong partners. They established a Comprehensive Partnership in 2009 and signed a Declaration on Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership in March, 2015. During the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull agreed to raise bilateral ties to a Strategic Partnership. Their Ministries of Foreign Affairs are preparing documents for early signing.
Trade revenue between the two countries reached 5.2 billion USD last year, making Australia Vietnam’s 7th biggest trade partner. Australia’s FDI projects involve construction, services, education, processing, and seafood. Vietnam has invited Australia to invest in other sectors including manufacturing, energy, mining, infrastructure, high-tech agriculture, and food processing.
Australia is one Vietnam’s biggest providers of non-refundable ODA with 130 million USD per year from 2010 to 2015. On the sideline of the recent APEC Meeting, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia will continue to provide ODA to Vietnam in climate change response, human resource development, capacity building for the private sector, and gender equality.
Enhancing parliamentary cooperation
Vietnam’s National Assembly and Australia’s Parliament have promoted a friendly relationship and cooperation. The two legislative bodies signed their first cooperative agreement former National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Australia in 2008 and an agreement cooperation in the new period during a visit to Vietnam by Speaker of the House of Representatives Anna Burke in 2013. They provided a legal foundation for deepening bilateral relations.
The two have established friendly parliamentarian groups and exchanged delegations to enhance mutual understanding. They have supported each other in multi-lateral parliamentary forums, including the International Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), and the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).