Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his spouse will visit Australia from March 17-18 and New Zealand from March 19-20 in an effort to further deepen the strategic partnership between Vietnam and the two nations.

>> Vietnam, Australia discuss maritime issues in defense dialogue The visits will be made at the invitations of Australian PM Tony Abbott and New Zealand PM John Key, according to Vietnam News Agency. Cooperation between Vietnam and Australia under the bilateral strategic partnership has been strengthened over the past several years, with a number of high-ranking delegation exchanges having been carried out. On the sidelines of the APEC Summit held in Beijing, China in November 2014, Australian PM Tony Abbott and Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang conducted a bilateral meeting focusing on measures to promote bilateral ties. Currently, Australia ranks eighth among the largest trade partners of Vietnam and is placed 19th in the foreign investing countries  in the Southeast Asian country. In addition, bilateral links between Vietnam and Australia in other fields such as labor, transport and tourism have been promoted. PM Dung paid his first visit to Australia in 2008. Meanwhile, PM Dung’s upcoming visit to New Zealand will be his first visit to the country and is taking place on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Strategic relations between Vietnam and New Zealand have also developed fruitfully over the past few years, with their two-way trade value soaring to US$794 million in 2014 from $300 million in 2009. The two sides signed a labor cooperation agreement in 2012, another deal on national defense cooperation in November 2013, and other deals in other fields.

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