Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse will visit Australia and New Zealand from March 5 to 11, during which he will attend the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Special Summit held in Melbourne, the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday.

This will be his first official visits to the two Oceanian countries since assuming power in 2021.

The top Vietnamese official will remain in Australia from March 5 to 9 during the week-long visit, which will take place at the invitation of his Australian and New Zealand counterparts Anthony Albanese and Christopher Luxon.

Australia and New Zealand are Vietnam’s strategic partners in Oceania, as well as member countries of the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), which was upgraded in August last year.

The visits demonstrate that Vietnam attaches great importance to Australia and New Zealand in particular and Oceania as a whole, as well as are expected to strengthen cooperation ties between the Southeast Asian nation with the region, especially in trade.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) shakes hands with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, Hanoi, June 2023. Photo: Nguyen Khanh / Tuoi Tre

Regarding the Vietnam-Australia bilateral relations, both sides wrapped up 2023 in an upbeat mood, with many high-level visits to Vietnam by top Australian officials and events in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Australia diplomatic ties.

Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Australia reached US$13.8 billion last year, with the former exporting $5.2 billion worth of goods to the latter.

Australia remains the seventh-largest trade partner of Vietnam, which is the 10th biggest one of the former.

Vietnam got the green light to export many types of its agro and seafood products, such as lychees, mangoes, dragon fruits, longans, and frozen shrimps, to Australia, while opening its doors to Australian fruits like oranges, kumquats, cherries, grapes, peaches, and nectarines.

The Southeast Asian nation is seeking Australia’s nod to export Vietnamese grapefruits and passion fruits to the latter.

As of last year, Australia ranked 20th among 143 countries and territories pouring investment in Vietnam, with 621 projects worth more than $2 billion in the manufacturing, processing, lodging services, healthcare, and agro-forestry-fishery sectors.

Vietnam had 92 valid projects with a combined investment of $552.7 million in Australia, ranking 11th among the 80 countries and regions investing in Australia.

Besides, Australia is one of the largest providers of non-refundable official development assistance (ODA), as well as short- and long-term scholarships for Vietnam.

Cooperation activities in terms of tourism, travel and holiday programs among Australian and Vietnamese localities also made headway.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is a former businessman. Photo: AFP

As for the Vietnam-New Zealand relations, the visit by PM Chinh will take place ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-New Zealand diplomatic ties in 2025.

The visit will enable both sides to discuss measures for tightening their ties and make preparations for the upcoming celebration.

Vietnam is currently New Zealand’s 14th-largest trade partner, with two-way trade in 2023 hitting $1.3 billion. The figure is expected to surpass $2 billion this year.

By November 2023, investors from New Zealand had 52 valid projects worth more than $208 million in Vietnam, mostly in the fields of real estate, education and training, manufacturing and processing.

Further, New Zealand has provided a stable and increased amount of ODA loans for Vietnam, adding that it pledged to offer $16.2 million of non-refundable ODA loans to Vietnam between July 1, 2021 and July 30, 2024.

The leaders of Australia, ASEAN member states and Timor Leste pose for a group photo at the 3rd ASEAN-Australia Summit held in Indonesia in 2023. Photo: ASEAN

The upcoming ASEAN-Australia Special Summit will bring together leaders of ASEAN member states, Australia, and the ASEAN secretary-general. The prime minister of Timor Leste will attend the event as an observer.

Under the theme of ‘A Partnership for the Future’, the summit will offer Australia and the bloc a chance to look back on a 50-year journey of their dialogue relations as well as discuss measures to boost their bilateral ties since both sides established their comprehensive strategic partnership in 2021.

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