Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cuong and Deputy Minister of National Defense Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang co-chaired the dialogue for Viet Nam. Michelle Chan, Deputy Secretary for South and Southeast Asia at Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Hugh Jeffrey, Deputy Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and International at Australia’s Department of Defense, co-chaired for Australia.
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Delegates attend the 11th Viet Nam-Australia Foreign Affairs and Defense Strategic Dialogue. |
The two sides reaffirmed that Viet Nam and Australia were trusted partners that worked well together and shared views on many regional and international issues. They welcomed the strong progress and growing depth of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. They said the agreements and statements adopted during the August 2026 state visit to Australia by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President To Lam had laid a firm political foundation for practical cooperation. They welcomed progress in following through on the outcomes of the visit.
The two sides said global and regional developments were becoming more complex and unpredictable. Growing instability and uncertainty, along with overlapping traditional and nontraditional security challenges, are affecting countries’ security and development. They said countries should strengthen cooperation and dialogue, build trust, prevent conflict and maintain peace, security and stability by respecting international law and the U.N. Charter and working together to shape their shared future.
The two sides agreed to increase consultations, share information and build strategic trust. They also agreed to implement the understandings reached by their senior leaders and set out in four documents adopted in August 2026. These were the joint statement on deepening the Viet Nam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the joint statement on cooperation on economic resilience, adaptation, and recovery, the joint statement on strengthening links in science, technology and innovation, and the updated Joint Vision Statement on Further Defense Cooperation. They welcomed progress on maritime security, combating transnational crime and online scams, responding to climate change, and U.N. peacekeeping under their peacekeeping partnership.
The two sides agreed to promote two-way trade and investment and support a transparent, open, inclusive, fair, sustainable and rules-based multilateral trading system. They also agreed to diversify supply chains, including for energy, work together on energy reserves, and expand science and technology cooperation, especially in strategic technologies, artificial intelligence and data security, to make their economies more self-reliant and resilient. Australia pledged to help Viet Nam build its capacity to host APEC in 2027.
Australia welcomed Viet Nam’s adoption of Resolution No.20-NQ/TW at the third plenum of the 14th Party Central Committee on building and developing Viet Nam into a strong maritime nation. Australia agreed to continue helping Viet Nam strengthen its maritime capabilities and train personnel, and to share its experience. Both sides emphasized bilateral maritime cooperation under the Australia-Southeast Asia Maritime Partnerships program to address shared challenges at sea in line with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982.
The two sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, freedom of navigation and overflight, and the flow of trade along strategic sea routes. They stressed that disputes should be settled peacefully, without the threat or use of force, in line with international law, particularly the UNCLOS 1982.
On regional issues, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to a peaceful, stable, prosperous, inclusive, sustainable and resilient Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean region. They underscored ASEAN centrality and the role of ASEAN-led mechanisms, including the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+), in promoting dialogue, cooperation and trust. They agreed to work closely to deepen the ASEAN-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and recognized the ASEAN Future Forum as an important initiative for substantive discussions on ASEAN’s future. Australia supported Viet Nam in hosting the fourth ASEAN Future Forum in 2027.
The two sides agreed to advance cooperation under the Mekong-Australia Partnership (MAP) to strengthen resilience and promote inclusive and sustainable development in the Mekong subregion. They also agreed to consider expanding cooperation in the Pacific island region.
At the conclusion of the dialogue, both sides highly valued the role and effectiveness of the Viet Nam-Australia Foreign Affairs and Defense Strategic Dialogue mechanism and agreed to hold the 12th dialogue in Australia at a suitable time in 2027.
Translated by Minh Anh