Australia pledges stronger support for Vietnam's development priorities
VOV.VN - Australia has pledged to foster the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam by aligning future cooperation with the latter’s new development priorities.
Vietnam has called on Australia to accelerate investment and expand cooperation programmes, particularly those supporting private sector development, as the country pursues annual economic growth of more than 10% in the coming years.
The proposal was made by Vietnamese Minister of Finance Ngo Van Tuan during talks with Australian Minister for International Development Anne Aly in Hanoi on July 28.
Tuan hailed Australia as one of Vietnam's key development partners, noting that its cooperation has been practical, responsive to the country's development needs, and consistent over the years.
He expressed hope that Australia would continue supporting Vietnam during its next stage of development.
The finance minister thanked the Australian Government for its commitment to provide approximately AUD98.3 million (US$63.8 million) in official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam for 2026–27. The funding will support activities under the two countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Development Partnership Plan.
Bilateral trade continued to expand strongly in the first six months of this year, with total two-way trade reaching US$8.2 billion, up 21.9% year-on-year. Vietnam's exports to Australia rose 25.1% to US$3.8 billion, while imports increased 19.1% to US$4.3 billion.
Noting that trade relations have expanded in both scale and pace, Tuấn said investment flows between the two countries should better reflect their expanding trade ties.
Tuan said the two sides should move quickly to sign a bilateral economic development cooperation programme covering four priority areas: energy, trade, transport and economic development.
He stressed that maintaining annual economic growth of more than 10% would help Vietnam achieve its goal of becoming an upper-middle-income country with a developed industrial base by 2030, in line with the country's socio-economic development strategy.
Support for private sector development, particularly innovation, would be a key component of Australia's assistance, he said, adding that the programme should be implemented as soon as possible and assessed based on measurable outcomes.
The minister also called for Australia's support in connecting businesses, transferring technology and sharing experiences, while encouraging greater investment links between enterprises in both countries.
He said cooperation could help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participate more deeply in value chains in renewable energy, high-tech agriculture, mining and downstream processing, enabling Vietnamese firms to capture greater value in global supply chains.
Vietnam currently has more than one million active businesses, around 98% of which are SMEs, Tuan said. The Government has introduced various policies to help them expand and improve their competitiveness, and hopes to learn from Australia's experience in developing SME policies, improving access to finance, land, technology and markets, and strengthening corporate governance.
He added that Vietnam also looked forward to expanding cooperation with Australia in climate change adaptation and addressing the impacts of sea-level rise while maintaining strong economic growth.
In response, Minister Aly noted that Australia has around 2.8 million small businesses, adding that the challenges faced by them are similar to those encountered elsewhere.
Governments therefore play an important role in creating favourable conditions for businesses to expand in the long term, she said.
Aly said Australia looked forward to continuing its support for Vietnam's efforts to promote economic growth and viewed the meeting as an opportunity to better understand the country's development priorities, paving the way for closer cooperation in the years ahead.
VOV.VN - The Australian Embassy in Vietnam and the Commission for Standards, Metrology and Quality (STAMEQ) on July 17 launched V-Standard platform, an innovative project under the Australian government funded Aus4Innovation program.
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