Nguyen Hong Hai, Senior Lecturer, VinUniversity

Since the two countries established their strategic partnership in 2018, the AVFMM has been rotationally held in each country on an annual basis. The fourth meeting was organized in Canberra last year. 

Though Minister Wong’s agenda in Hanoi was not disclosed, it is expected that she will have courtesy meetings with Vietnam’s top leaders and take part in several activities to cement the strategic partnership between Canberra and Hanoi, as well as to signify Australia’s ODA provision that contributes to Vietnam’s development. Ms. Wong should also take this opportunity to reiterate the same congratulatory message from Governor-General David Hurley and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in celebrating the 50^th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the fifth anniversary of the strategic partnership between the two countries this year during their official visits to Vietnam back in April and June, respectively. Senator Wong is also expected to reach agreement with the Vietnamese hosts on what will be finally laid out and when it will be appropriate to upgrade the current strategic partnership to that of a comprehensive strategic partnership. According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia, Nguyen Tat Thanh, the upgrading will be officially announced after the two sides have completed internal procedures, suggesting that implicative contents of this new partnership have already been agreed upon. 

As indicated on various occasions by the two sides, trade and investment, people-to-people exchanges and tourism, among others, would remain pillars and priorities in the comprehensive strategic partnership. 

In 2021-2022, total two-way trade reached approximately US $16 billion, making Australia Vietnam’s seventh largest trading partner and at the other end Vietnam as Australia’s 10th biggest trading partner.

More Vietnamese and Australian visitors are coming in both directions. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, 125,000 Vietnamese visitors went to Australia and more than 300,000 Australian visitors came to Vietnam. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, nearly 82,000 Australian visitors arrived in Vietnam, an increase of 14.4% as compared to 2019, whereas the number of Vietnamese visitors to Australia made up ten percent of the outbound visitors. Many Australians have chosen Vietnam as their favorite destination because of low costs in comparison with other countries or others have migrated to Vietnam with their families to live and do business and make investment. Vietnamese visiting Australia do so because of some linkages with the country such as kinship or a return to the place where they once studied. There are more than 300,000 Australians of Vietnamese background, and approximately 80,000 Vietnamese men and women have studied in Australia.

To promote trade and investment to a level that matches up with potentials and the strategic partnership, the two countries have signed agreements and founded several mechanisms such as the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (2021), the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AusCham) to establish a new Business Council of leading investors from both sides to promote business cooperation, the MoU establishing a Ministerial-level Dialogue Mechanism on Trade and to co-chair the first Dialogue Session this year. In addition, both Vietnam and Australia are members of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). However, what has been done thus far is insufficient to accelerate a breakthrough in growth in trade, business, investment, and tourism from both sides. More favorable conditions and simplified customs procedures are required to promote freer flows of trade, commodities and to remove barriers that hinder the traveling of the citizens.

Recently, the Vietnamese government has taken bold administrative reforms by promulgating policies that allow foreign citizens to enter the country more conveniently and to take a longer stay. For instance, visitors from all countries and territories now can apply for e-visas and stay up to 90 days with multiple entries, effective from August 15, 2023. At the same time, citizens from 13 countries are now eligible for visa-free stay up to 45 days and up to 90 days for another 12 other countries. Notably, among the twenty-five countries that Vietnam applies the visa exemption policy, nine are members of ASEAN and thirteen are strategic or comprehensive strategic partners. 

On the other side, as of July 2023, Australian holders can travel without a visa to 144 countries and territories, including the five founding members of ASEAN. At present, Australians and Vietnamese holding an APEC card can enter visa-free in both directions, excluding dual Vietnamese-Australian citizens.

During talks on her first visit to Hanoi last year, Minister Wong and her Vietnamese counterpart Bui (Thanh Son) agreed to promote cooperation in the post-COVID-19 era in the fields of tourism, education and labor. The two countries are finding ways to make a speedy recovery for the tourism industry which was seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to minimize the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on trade. Will visa exemption for Australian and Vietnamese citizens to enter each other’s country be raised for discussion between Ministers Wong and Bui on the former’s second visit to Vietnam this time? 

It would be hard to understand should the issue not be considered and executed, given the high political and strategic trust, the complementarity of the two economies, the determined expansion of trade and investment, Australia’s demand for labor in the construction, agricultural and hospitality sectors running up to the Olympics in 2032, and the choice of citizens of the two countries traveling  between both countries as favorite destinations.

There may be concerns about security and social stability from both sides relating to illegal migration or terrorist elements. However, measures are available to manage these concerns with the advances in security technology. The best method is surely not to employ the visa application procedures as filters to stop entry of these elements as they would hurt the general public. Instead, enhanced security cooperation and control at the border-gates with state-of-the art identification technologies, and constructive and candid dialogues as trusted strategic partners would soundly address each other’s concerns.