Vietnam seeks to beef up trade, investment ties with Australia

Ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh launches the programme to build trademark for Vietnamese tra fish and catfish in Australia, and promote Vietnamese frozen passion fruits. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Nguyen Tat Thanh paid a working visit to Victoria State to conduct activities to promote trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Australia.

During the trip from November 18-20, the ambassador met with leaders of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce, Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), RMIT University, LinFox Group, rhe Vietnamese Entrepreneurs’ Association in Australia, and Vietnamese community in Victoria.

Working with Australian partners, Ambassador Thanh underlined that the Vietnamese economy has a high level of openness, especially when new generation free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has become operational and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is to take effect.

Over the past two years, despite impacts from COVID-19, positive signs have been seen in Vietnam’s exports to Australia, especially farm produce. Specifically, exports of fruits and vegetables rose 27.65 percent, seafood 16.37 percent, rice 30.32 percent, peppercorn 33.03 percent. Meanwhile, garment and textile exports to Australia also enjoyed increase of 40.54 percent, while that of transport vehicles and spare parts rose 120.61 percent, steel products 72.43 percent, electric cables 85.14 percent, and iron and steel 216.73 percent.

Trade between Vietnam and Australia reached a record of 10 billion USD in the first half of 2021, representing 50 percent rise year on year.

The ambassador held that the results revealed that Australian consumers prefer Vietnamese products.

Australian partners agreed that the Vietnamese and Australian economies can supplement each other. Vietnam is a promising destination for Australian firms, they noted, stressing that Australia welcomes Vietnamese investors.

Jeremy Blackshaw, Director of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce and MinterEllison's International Managing Partner, highly valued investment opportunities between Vietnam and Australia. He pledged to support Vietnam in trade promotion and attract more Australian investors.

Meanwhile, David Fox, head of Linfox, vowed to help strengthen logistics cooperation between Vietnam and Australia, initially through the Avalon airport construction project between Linfox and Sovico Group of Vietnam. Linfox will also help connect businesses between the two sides, he said.

Prof. Peter Coloe, Vice President of RMIT University, revealed that the university plans to expand the scale of RMIT Vietnam to attract more students.

On the occasion, Ambassador Thanh cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Vietnam-Australia Trade and Investment Promotion Centre, and launched the programme to build trademark for Vietnamese tra fish and catfish in Australia, as well as promote Vietnamese frozen passion fruits./.