Party General Secretary, State President To Lam begins state visit to Australia

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and State President To Lam and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation arrived at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport on August 9 evening (local time), beginning a four-day state visit to Australia at the invitation of Governor-General Sam Mostyn.

The Vietnamese leader and his entourage were greeted at the airport by Australian officials, along with representatives from the Vietnamese Embassy, Consulates General and other Vietnamese representative agencies in Australia.

Vietnam and Australia established diplomatic relations on February 26, 1973, and have since built a strong and enduring partnership with increasingly diverse and growing interests. Vietnam is now regarded as one of Australia's most important bilateral partners.

The two countries maintain regular high-level meetings and exchanges and many bilateral cooperation mechanisms, while closely coordinating within ASEAN, APEC and the United Nations. The two-way trade currently exceeds 14 billion USD, while science, technology and innovation are emerging as new pillars of the bilateral ties.

More than 35,000 Vietnamese students are currently studying in Australia, while a Vietnamese community of over 350,000 people, together with networks of intellectuals and businesspeople, serve as a strong bridge between the two nations.

Australia is also an important provider of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, supporting infrastructure development, digital transformation, climate change response and green transition, while expanding the training of Vietnamese officials through the Vietnam-Australia Centre at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

Australia is the only country to have supported Vietnam in transporting field hospitals, and provided English-language and military medical training, helping strengthen Vietnam's capacity to participate in UN peacekeeping operations.

The trip is particularly significant as it is General Secretary and President To Lam’s first visit to Australia in his new position and the first by a key Vietnamese leader since the two countries elevated their relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2024.

It demonstrates the importance Vietnam attaches to Australia as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific and the Southeast Asian nation's determination to deepen the new partnership framework in a substantive and effective manner./.