This is her first state visit to Vietnam since taking office, taking place at a time when the Vietnam - Australia comprehensive strategic partnership continues to develop strongly. The two countries enjoy a high level of strategic trust and share common perspectives on many regional and global issues.
Australia attaches great importance to promoting comprehensive cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, with Vietnam being a key partner holding significant influence in the region.
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Governor-General Sam Mostyn’s state visit to Vietnam provides an opportunity for both sides to further strengthen their friendship and cooperation. |
Fifty-two years ago, the two nations officially established diplomatic relations. Over more than half a century, Vietnam and Australia have built strong and comprehensive relations based on strategic trust and mutual understanding. The two sides maintain regular high-level exchanges and dialogues through over 20 bilateral cooperation mechanisms, including annual meetings between Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and Defense Ministers, the economic partnership meeting, and cooperation between localities.
Alongside strong political and diplomatic ties, economic and trade cooperation has flourished, becoming a highlight of the bilateral relationship. Despite geographical distance, the two economies are becoming increasingly interconnected as both countries are members of major free trade agreements such as the CPTPP, RCEP, and AANZFTA, which provide significant tariff preferences.
Notably, the elevation of ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in March 2024 opened new opportunities for economic cooperation. Bilateral trade in 2024 reached USD 14.1 billion, a 2.3% increase over 2023. Australia is now Vietnam’s seventh largest trading partner, while Vietnam ranks as Australia’s 10th. By mid-2025, Australia had had 864 investment projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of USD 3.38 billion, while Vietnam had had 93 projects in Australia worth over USD 551 million, making Australia Vietnam’s 11th largest overseas investment destination.
Attentively, Australia is one of Vietnam’s largest bilateral donors of non-refundable ODA, announcing in March a record AUD 96.6 million package for Vietnam.
Defense and security cooperation is also a vital pillar of the bilateral relations. The two countries maintain delegation exchanges, training cooperation, information sharing, and joint efforts to combat crime and illegal migration. Australia is among the key partners in Vietnam’s U.N. peacekeeping operations. The two countries established a U.N. peacekeeping partnership in March 2024. The Royal Australian Air Force has many times provided transport support for Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital deployments to South Sudan. In terms of security and law enforcement cooperation, in October 2024, the two sides elevated their security dialogue to the ministerial level.
Cooperation in education and training, labor, cultural exchanges, and people-to-people exchange has also yielded encouraging results. Looking ahead, Vietnam and Australia still have much potential to explore, especially in areas of Vietnam’s priority and Australia’s strengths, including hi-tech, innovation, clean energy, mining, infrastructure, telecommunications, services, tourism, and hi-tech agriculture.
Based on these achievements, Governor-General Sam Mostyn’s state visit to Vietnam provides an opportunity for both sides to further strengthen their friendship and cooperation. It is strongly believed that the visit will be a success, creating new momentum to advance and deepen the Vietnam - Australia comprehensive strategic partnership for the benefit of both peoples, and for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
By Editorial Board
Translated by Chung Anh