Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hold a joint press conference. (Photo: VOV)

During his trip from March 5-11, Prime Minister Chinh completed a schedule with more than 50 activities.

Contributions to ASEAN-Asutralia partnership

Vietnam proactively participated in the preparation process, agenda building and document negotiation, as well as making important contributions to the overall success of the Summit. At the Summit, Prime Minister Chinh proposed "3 breakthroughs, 3 enhancements, and 3 togethers" in the ASEAN-Australia relationship.

Prime Minister Chinh also had meetings with all heads of delegations, including leaders of ASEAN countries, Timor Leste, Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN Secretary General. The partners applauded Vietnam’s role and position  and wished to further deepen relations with Vietnam in all fields, especially economics-trade, science-technology, education-training, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.

Elevating ties with Australia, opening cooperation opportunities with New Zealand

After attending the ASEAN-Australia Summit, Prime Minister Chinh and his wife paid official visits to Australia and New Zealand. The two countries greeted the Prime Minister and his wife with special ceremonies. The New Zealand government welcomed the Prime Minister with a Maori ritual.

In Australia, Prime Minister Chinh and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced an upgrade of Vietnam-Australia relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the highest level in Vietnam's external relations system. The two Prime Ministers agreed to coordinate closely to implement six major cooperation directions.

Layton Pike, co-founder of the Australia-Vietnam Policy Institute, said: “Today is a very exciting day for Australia-Vietnam relations as the two Prime Ministers have confirmed the elevation of the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This reflects the fact that Australia and Vietnam now have the highest level of diplomatic partnership. And neither country has more than a few Comprehensive Strategic Partners. So today is a historic day in the Australia-Vietnam relationship.” 

Autralian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski said: "Prime Minister Chinh is a very charm personality. He charms everyone he meets. What I’ve seen is really refecting the level of sincerity and friendship between the two countries. He’s spending a lot of time, working on a lot of issues which are of priority to Vietnam. The visit, which I think, will help to build the relationship further, help to build Australia’s understanding of Vietnam better. I hope as the result of this we’ll have any opportunities to strengthen our engagement." 

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and New Zealand rime Minister Christopher Luxon attend a joint press conference. (Photo: VOV)

In New Zealand, Prime Minister Chinh had extensive talks with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and met senior New Zealand leaders. The visit opened up opportunities for cooperation in a number of new areas, such as climate change response and digital transformation.

Prime Minister Chinh told the press following his talks with Prime Minister Luxon: “With a sense of constructiveness and cooperation, we discussed cooperation areas and set out directions for the Vietnam-New Zealand Strategic Partnership to develop even more strongly and deeply. We intend to raise bilateral relations to a new level, which I would like to summarize in 3 pairs of keywords "stabilize and consolidate", "strengthen and expand", and "accelerate and breakthrough.”

Both countries agreed to increase two-way trade turnover to 2 billion USD this year and increase two-way investment to 500 million USD by 2030, and pledged to work together to ensure regional peace, stability, and prosperity.