First senior officials' dialogue between Vietnam and Australia's Foreign Ministries

At the invitation of Australian Deputy Foreign Minister Michelle Chan, Comrade Nguyen Manh Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, visited Australia and co-chaired the first Senior Officials' Dialogue (SoT) between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs from August 4-7.

Party Central Committee member, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong and Australian Deputy Foreign Minister Michelle Chan. (Photo: Bao Chi)

At the Dialogue, both sides expressed their delight at the extensive development of bilateral relations since the upgrade to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and were pleased to see that the contents of this relationship are being implemented comprehensively and effectively across all six pillars with more than 100 cooperation activities completed and nearly 60 activities being implemented on schedule. Cooperation in all fields has achieved practical results.

On the occasion of the Dialogue, the two sides approved the Annual Review Report of the Action Program implementing the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 2024-2027 period.

The two sides highly appreciated the continued in-depth political -defense-security cooperation, demonstrating the growing political trust between Vietnam and Australia.

In particular, the two sides have regularly maintained bilateral exchange and dialogue mechanisms to enhance mutual understanding, and organized many new mechanisms such as the Ministerial-level Security Dialogue (October 2024) and the Senior Officials' Dialogue between the two Foreign Ministries (August 2025). On that basis, the two sides agreed to coordinate in preparing for upcoming visits and high-level mechanisms, including the Foreign Ministers' Meeting and the Defense Policy Dialogue.

In the economic field, the two sides expressed satisfaction that bilateral trade turnover in 2024 increased by 2.3%, reaching 14.1 billion USD; Australia opened its doors to Vietnamese passion fruit and Vietnam opened its doors to Australian plum; registered investment capital from Australia to Vietnam exceeded 3 billion USD for the first time in the first 6 months of 2025.

The two sides agreed to continue to effectively implement the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 and the Vietnam-Australia Economic Engagement Enhancement Strategy (EEES), promote the completion of the draft and move towards signing the Memorandum of Understanding on the digital economy, soon organize the Ministerial Dialogue on energy and minerals, continue to coordinate effectively in multilateral economic mechanisms and linkages in the region as well as free trade agreements of which both sides are members such as CPTPP, AANZFTA and RCEP.

Vietnam highly appreciates Australia’s commitment and increased ODA budget in recent years as well as practical initiatives and projects implemented in many fields, including climate change adaptation initiatives in the Mekong Delta; and at the same time, requests Australia to continue supporting the energy transition process, towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

In the field of science, technology and innovation, the two sides agreed to promote the implementation of the Australia-Vietnam Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Initiative (Aus4Innovation), and welcomed the establishment of the Vietnam-Australia Strategic Technology Center (June 2025).

The two sides believed that the fields of science, technology and innovation still have a lot of potential, in line with the common development strategies of both countries, especially in the context of Vietnam strongly implementing Resolution 57-NQ/TW on science, technology and innovation.

The delegation visited the Australia Vietnam Institute. (Photo: Bao Chi)

The two sides will continue to promote closer cooperation, especially strengthening connections between universities, research facilities, students and postgraduates between the two countries, and encouraging the implementation of joint research to create a breakthrough in scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.

During the visit, Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong had a working session with leaders of a number of Australian agencies, localities, scholars and researchers to discuss orientations for developing bilateral relations, promoting cooperation between localities of the two countries, as well as promoting cooperation in science, technology and education between Vietnam and Australia.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong also had discussions with the Association of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs, Intellectuals and Experts in Australia to listen to the community's opinions on further promoting the contributions of Vietnamese experts, intellectuals and entrepreneurs in Australia to the development of the economy, science and technology and innovation in Vietnam.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/doi-thoai-quan-chuc-cap-cao-hai-bo-ngoai-giao-viet-nam-australia-lan-thu-nhat-323678.html