PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnesses an historic moment in the relationship between Australia and Vietnam. I am thrilled and honoured to be part of the signing ceremony for this historic Comprehensive Partnership and I am thrilled and honoured to be able to welcome Prime Minister Dũng and his distinguished delegation to our Parliament House.
The fact that the relationship between Australia and Vietnam has come so far in the last few decades is a tribute to the magnanimity of our peoples and a testament to the ability of our peoples to focus on our common interests and I have to say that because of this, the relationship is going from strength to strength.
The trade relationship is strong and growing stronger all the time and it will be very much enhanced should the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations be finalised as we hope some time later this year.
The people-to-people relationship is strong and growing stronger all the time and in the case of Australia, it is seasoned by the presence of some quarter of a million Australians of Vietnamese heritage who make a marvellous contribution to the life of our country.
In recent times, there has been a growing security relationship between Australia and Vietnam. Obviously, we have shared interests in the peace, the stability and the tranquillity of our region and we want to work together to ensure that the stability of our region, which has been so important for the prosperity of all countries, continues.
So, it is really good to be here with Prime Minister Dũng. I know that my distinguished Minister for Trade, Andrew Robb, is looking forward to his visit with a large trade delegation later in the year. It is a strong relationship. It’s growing stronger all the time and, again, Prime Minister, welcome to Australia. You are certainly amongst friends.
PRIME MINISTER Dũng:
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, friends, I and Prime Minister Tony Abbott just had a very substantive talk that produced remarkable results in the spirit of friendship, mutual trust and mutual understanding. We took stock of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries and agreed that the bilateral relations between Vietnam and Australia are growing very well. Both sides place much importance on strengthening the bilateral cooperation and are committed to working closely to further push and deepen the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between our two countries.
We will also concur to implement effectively the concluded agreements, continue to foster cooperation through the mechanisms of the bilateral cooperation committees. We agreed to increase exchange of high level delegations and visits at all levels, enhance party-to-party, government-to-government and parliament-to-parliament cooperation as well as people-to-people exchange in order to increase mutual trust and mutual understanding.
Ladies and gentlemen, I and Prime Minister Tony Abbott consented to continue strengthening the cooperation and actively implementing the concluded agreements on security and defence, increase sharing of experience and information, support Vietnam to train English language and peace-keeping missions, expand cooperation for Special Forces, rescue submarines, search and rescue, response to disasters, epidemics and climate change, fight against terrorism, human trafficking, cyber security, water resources security and actively support and consult one another in regional defence and security cooperation mechanisms like ADMM, ADMM-Plus and ARF, among others.
We also reaffirmed that education and training are the highlights in the bilateral cooperation and agreed to promote even further the collaboration in these areas. Vietnam welcomes the New Colombo Plan of Australia and Australia agreed to maintain the scholarships for Vietnam.
Vietnam also expressed appreciation to the Government of Australia for continuously providing the development assistance sources to Vietnam. In Vietnam when people talk about Australia, they often remember the Cao Lãnh and Mỹ Thuận Bridges. These are the lively symbols of the dynamic development of our two countries’ great friendship and relations.
On economic, trade, investment and other areas of cooperation, we agreed to promote cooperation in all areas. Both sides agreed to promote fruits imports in each country, intensify cooperation in quarantine of aquaculture products from Vietnam, facilitate the two business communities to foster cooperation in the areas of advantages and needs, such as education and training, construction, processing industry, tourism, agriculture and livestock.
In addition to the enhanced connectivity of the two economies, we agreed to encourage the strengthening and expansion of cooperation in other potential areas like culture, education, health, science and technology, tourism and people-to-people exchange building upon the ongoing good relations.
We agreed and affirm that the development of Vietnam-Australian relations, we want to push and deepen further these relations and take the comprehensive relations to the next level. Accordingly, we agreed to release a statement on the strengthening of the comprehensive partnership and, accordingly, we agreed to improve further the comprehensive partnership between the two countries and task the two foreign ministries to develop the action plan for 2015-2017 to implement the concrete programmes and projects for the two countries interests, for peace, stability, cooperation and common development of the region.
Apart from bilateral cooperation, I and Prime Minister Tony Abbott also discussed a wide range of regional and international issues. We agreed on the importance of the assurance of peace, stability, maritime security, freedom of navigation and flight in the South China Sea in compliance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, full implementation of the DOC, exercise self-restraint and refrain from actions that may escalate the tension in the region, including the use of force to unilaterally change the status quo. We emphasise the imperative need to soon formulate the COC. We also affirmed to continue the close and effective collaboration within the regional and international forums to which the two countries are the members, such as the ASEAN-Australia Cooperation, the East Asia Summit, APEC and the United Nations frameworks.
We agreed to support one another in the negotiations and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Our talk has been a great success. We have obtained the common important perception for the development directions of the bilateral relations and the regional cooperation in the coming years.
Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
We will have a couple of questions now and I believe the first question is from Mr Tran from Vietnam TV.
QUESTION:
Mr Prime Minister, you agreed to issue the declaration on this strategic partnership, so what will Australia do to build this strategic trust to ensure the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific?
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
Australia and Vietnam have a strong shared interest in the continued peace and stability of our region. We have both prospered in peace over the last 40 years because of the stability that our region has enjoyed and anything which disturbs that stability is something that we would mutually deplore and mutually work to ensure didn't happen.
We both support freedom of navigation by air and by sea in the South China Sea. We both deplore any unilateral change to the status quo. We both think that disputes should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law.
I probably should repeat what I have said in Tokyo, in Seoul and in Beijing: that the countries of Asia will all advance together or none of us will advance at all. We all have a very strong vested interest – permanent interest – in maintaining the peace and stability of our region.
In terms of the specific cooperation, it’s good to see that 120 Vietnamese military personnel will be receiving some training here in Australia. It’s good that Vietnamese military personnel will be involved in joint exercises here in Australia. Particularly given the history, it’s terrific to see that our countries are building a high level of mutual trust and cooperation and I certainly look forward to that continuing in the months and years ahead.
Now, I think the next question is from Lisa Martin of AAP.
QUESTION:
One in 10 people in Vietnam live in extreme poverty on $1.25 US a day or less. Mr Abbott, was it embarrassing for you to explain to Mr Dũng that Australia is cutting its aid budget by $11 billion overall and Mr Dũng, are you concerned about the potential impact of aid cuts on your people?
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
Perhaps if I could go first. Look, obviously it is important for all countries to ensure that their domestic economic house is in order because if you don't have your domestic economic house in order, it’s very difficult to be a good friend and neighbour abroad.
Yes, there have been some modest reductions coming up in Australia's aid budget, but our aid budget has been growing very strongly in recent years and we think it’s important to pause it and scale it back a bit before it then starts to grow again in a few years’ time.
But, obviously, as part of a modest reduction in the overall aid budget, we will be focusing the aid that we give on our region and Vietnam is very much a strong, respected and increasingly important part of our region.
I guess the objective of aid is important to remember, too. The objective of aid is not to create a relationship of permanent dependency; the objective of aid is to ensure that countries are helped to develop to the point where they don't need aid anymore and, obviously, the very strong economic growth that Vietnam has enjoyed over the last few years, particularly under the economic stewardship of Prime Minister Dũng, means that the need for this kind of assistance will be less and less in the years and decades to come.
Thanks very much. It’s terrific to be here. Thank you.
[ends]