VOV.VN - Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s state visit to Australia from August 9 – 12 is expected to give fresh impetus to translating political commitments into concrete cooperation programmes in economy, science and technology, education and innovation, among others.
This is Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s first visit to Australia in his current capacity and the first visit by Vietnam’s top leader to the country since the two sides elevated their relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2024. It comes as bilateral ties enter a new phase, underpinned by increasingly strong political trust, significant room for cooperation and growing demand for new areas of partnership aligned with the development priorities of both countries.
More than half a century after establishing diplomatic relations, Vietnam and Australia have built increasingly strong political trust. Regular high-level and other exchanges, together with more than 20 bilateral cooperation mechanisms across a wide range of areas, have provided an important foundation for stable and substantive development of bilateral ties.
The two countries also work closely together at regional and international forums, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the United Nations. Australia continues to regard Southeast Asia as a priority region in its regional policy, with Vietnam identified as one of its key partners.
The elevation of bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2024 opened a new chapter in the relationship, reflecting growing strategic trust and increasingly intertwined interests between the two countries.
Against that backdrop, Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s state visit is expected to help translate broad cooperation orientations into concrete programmes and projects.
Economic, trade and investment ties are among the most prominent bright spots in the bilateral relationship.
Australia is currently Vietnam’s seventh-largest trading partner, while Vietnam ranks as Australia’s 10th-largest trading partner. Two-way trade reached around US$14 billion in 2025. In the first six months of 2026 alone, bilateral trade hit US$8.1 billion, up nearly 22% year on year, highlighting the positive momentum in economic ties.
The two countries are taking various measures to expand market access with a view to raising bilateral trade to US$20 billion in the coming period. Australia has opened its market to a range of Vietnamese agricultural products, including lychees, mangoes, dragon fruit, longan, passion fruit and frozen shrimp, while Vietnam has also expanded imports of high-quality fruit and agricultural products from Australia.
As of the end of May 2026, Australian investors had 734 valid projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of more than US$1.9 billion, ranking 22nd among countries and territories investing in the country.
Australia is also one of Vietnam’s largest bilateral providers of grant official development assistance. For the 2026–27 fiscal year, Australia has allocated AUD98.3 million in development assistance to Vietnam, up from AUD96.6 million in the previous fiscal year. The funding focuses on areas including infrastructure development, digital transformation, climate change response and sustainable development.
Education continues to be one of the most successful areas of cooperation between Vietnam and Australia.
Nearly 25,000 Vietnamese students are currently studying in Australia, making Vietnam one of the country’s largest sources of international students. There are currently more than 400 joint training programmes between Vietnamese and foreign higher education institutions, including more than 40 undergraduate programs involving Australian institutions.
The two governments have signed a number of agreements and programmes on human resource development, including arrangements under the Vietnam-Australia Human Resource Development Programme and bilateral cooperation frameworks, creating a foundation for expanded education and training cooperation.
Alongside education, science, technology and innovation are emerging as new growth drivers in bilateral relations. The two countries continue to implement the second phase of the Aus4Innovation programme, while Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have signed a new five-year memorandum of understanding on science, technology and innovation.
As Vietnam pursues development driven by science, technology, innovation and digital transformation, this is considered an area with significant potential for expanded bilateral cooperation in the years ahead.
People-to-people links between Vietnam and Australia are also being strengthened by growing tourism and air connectivity. The number of Australian visitors to Vietnam has increased steadily over the years, reaching nearly 550,000 arrivals in 2025. Air connectivity between the two countries has also expanded, with airlines now operating 56 round-trip flights per week, helping facilitate travel, tourism and broader people-to-people exchanges.
People-to-people ties are another important foundation of the Vietnam-Australia relationship.
Around 375,000 people of Vietnamese origin live in Australia, making them the country’s fifth-largest ethnic community of foreign origin. Vietnamese communities are present in almost every Australian state and territory, contributing actively to the host country’s development and serving as an important bridge for economic, educational, cultural and people-to-people ties between the two countries.
Together with tens of thousands of Vietnamese students, Vietnamese entrepreneurs, academics and community members are helping build strong networks that deepen mutual understanding and trust between the peoples of Vietnam and Australia.
Building on more than five decades of friendship and cooperation, Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s state visit to Australia is anticipated to provide fresh momentum for the two countries to give practical substance to their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Beyond strengthening political trust, the visit is also expected to promote new, high-value areas of cooperation, including science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, high-quality human resource development and the green transition, alongside traditional pillars such as trade, investment and education.
With a steadily strengthening relationship and complementary strengths between the two economies, the visit is set to usher in a more substantive and effective phase of Vietnam-Australia cooperation, delivering tangible benefits to the people and businesses of both countries and contributing positively to peace, stability and development in the region.
VOV.VN - General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President To Lam, along with a high-level Vietnamese delegation, will make state visits to Australia and New Zealand from August 9 to 14, 2026.
VOV.VN - Vietnamese Party General Secretary and State President To Lam's state visit to Australia from August 9 to 12 is expected to deepen political trust, accelerate implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and unlock new opportunities for cooperation in science, technology, innovation and the digital economy.
VOV.VN - Vietnam expects Party General Secretary and State President To Lam's upcoming state visit to Australia to inject fresh momentum into the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, with science, technology, innovation and high-quality workforce development expected to emerge as key drivers of future cooperation.
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