This marks the first state visit to Australia by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam following the success of the 14th National Party Congress. The visit holds important significance, taking place as the Viet Nam - Australia comprehensive strategic partnership enters a new development phase with many opportunities and ample room for cooperation.
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General Secretary To Lam (now Party General Secretary and State President) receives Australian Governor-General Sam Mostyn during her state visit to Viet Nam in September 2025. (Photo: VNA) |
Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1973, Viet Nam and Australia have nurtured a friendly and cooperative relationship founded on political trust and mutual respect. Over the past five decades, their ties have grown increasingly strong, substantive, and effective despite complex regional and global changes. Viet Nam consistently views Australia as a reliable friend, a promising partner with growing regional stature and shared strategic interests. Australia, in turn, highly values Viet Nam’s dynamic development, considers Viet Nam an important partner in its regional foreign policy, and seeks to broaden cooperation in areas of mutual strength.
Built on respect, trust, equality, and mutual benefit, Viet Nam and Australia elevated their relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2024. More than two years later, the framework has given fresh momentum to broader and deeper bilateral cooperation. Key areas under the 2024-2027 Action Program to implement the partnership are progressing as planned, with 96% of the work basically completed. Political trust has been further consolidated through high-level exchanges, dialogue mechanisms, and close coordination at multilateral forums. Economic cooperation has also advanced steadily: Australia is now Viet Nam’s seventh-largest trading partner, while Viet Nam ranks tenth among Australia’s trading partners. In 2025, the bilateral trade value reached USD 14 billion.
Defense and security cooperation continues to serve as an important strategic pillar. Australia has been the only country to repeatedly assist Viet Nam in transporting personnel and equipment of rotations of its Level-2 Field Hospital to the U.N. Mission in South Sudan. It has also supported Viet Nam with English-language and military medical training, contributing to enhancing the country’s capacity for U.N. peacekeeping operations. In March 2024, the two sides officially established a partnership on U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Education and training cooperation has also been given high priority and has grown strongly alongside the positive development of bilateral ties. In 2026, Viet Nam ranked the fourth among the top five sources of international students in Australia, with nearly 25,000 students, following China, India, and Nepal. Since 2015, more than 6,000 Australian students have come to Viet Nam under the New Colombo Plan. The two countries’ educational institutions are currently running over 400 joint training programs in Viet Nam, including more than 40 at the university level.
Science and technology, labor cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges have also achieved substantive outcomes. For years, Australia has maintained stable official development assistance (ODA) for Viet Nam in areas including climate change response, human resources development, and the promotion of gender equality. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Australia has provided Viet Nam with more than AUD 3 billion, effectively supporting the country’s socio-economic development.
As the global political, security, and economic environment undergoes complex and unpredictable changes, deeply affecting the security and development of nations, Viet Nam and Australia are increasingly aware of the importance of closer coordination in addressing common challenges.
With political trust further consolidated, substantive cooperation expanding, and both countries’ potential remaining vast, Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s state visit to Australia is expected to be a great success, creating fresh momentum to deepen bilateral relations and elevate them in both scope and substance.
Translated by Minh Anh