Australian Senate President wraps up Vietnam visit

Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (R) welcomes President of the Senate of Australia Scott Ryan (Photo: VNA)

President of the Senate of Australia Scott Ryan wrapped up his official visit to Vietnam on January 23.

During the trip, which began on January 20 at the invitation of National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the Senate President held talks with the Vietnamese top legislator, paid a courtesy visit to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, and met with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

At the meetings, the two sides agreed that the bilateral political ties have become closer since the establishment of diplomatic relations 45 years ago.

Particularly, the elevation of the bilateral relations to a strategic partnership in March 2018 created a new important framework to deepen their cooperation across the fields.

The relations between Vietnamese and Australian parliaments have thrived based on the signed collaboration agreements, as seen in the exchange of all-level delegations and sharing of experience in parliamentary activities to increase mutual understanding and cooperation.

The two sides also actively supported and coordinated with each other at multilateral parliamentary forums.

The Australian parliament has coordinated with the Vietnamese NA to share experience and provide skill training for legislators, especially female ones.

Vietnam always welcomes investment from Australian businesses, particularly in the fields of energy, infrastructure, telecommunication, finance-banking, mining, manufacturing, high-tech agriculture, education and tourism, while encouraging domestic businesses to explore investment opportunities in Australia.

The country hopes from more assistance from Australia in infrastructure improvement, agriculture and rural development, poverty reduction, climate change adaptation, and high-quality human resources development.

Vietnam will actively work to promote Australia’s relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other countries in the region.

The two sides agreed to step up the effective implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two parliaments and the action programme in 2016-2019 as well as agreements reached during the recent high-level visits between the two countries.

They will also enhance people-to-people exchanges and promote the role of friendship associations and friendship parliamentarian groups in the respective countries to reinforce their mutual understanding and cooperation in both bilateral and multilateral aspects.

VNA