Australia’s Queensland regards Vietnam as priority market in SEA

Trade and Investment Queensland Chief Executive Officer Justin McGowan was speaking this at a recent meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Pham Hung Tam.

MacGowan told the Vietnamese diplomat that he welcomes the greater attention and presence of Vietnamese businesses in Queensland, including Sofico Group, Vingroup, TH Group and Vietjet Air. He pledged to create favourable conditions for other businesses to promote investment and trade in the state.

The Australian official also highlighted Queensland’s potential and strengths, especially in agriculture, mining, renewable energy and education.

He consented to coordinate with the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia to welcome Vietnamese delegations to Queensland in the time ahead. He outlined his hope that both sides will intensify activities to strengthen people-to-people exchanges, especially between friendship parliamentary groups of the two countries.

For his part, Tam voiced his appreciation for the important position and role of Queensland, saying that the two sides hold huge potential for cooperation, especially in trade and investment. Tam said he wished both sides will increase two-way investment, including considering promoting investment in new fields such as clean energy and digital transformation, and expanding investment in potential areas including high quality agriculture.

He asked for Queensland’s coordination to support Vietnamese delegations that will visit the state to seek investment and business opportunities in the coming time. The ambassador expressed his wish that the state will hasten the renewal of its cooperation agreements with Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang city of Vietnam.

The same day, the Vietnamese diplomat met with Commissioner of the Australian Border Force (ABF) Michael Outram at the ABF office, during which he suggested both sides go ahead with coordination in carrying out important outcomes achieved during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to Australia last March, particularly in security and defence cooperation.

The Vietnamese diplomat applauded the results of Outram's visit to Vietnam, and welcomed the signing of a plan on customs investigation collaboration and a Letter of Intent on negotiations on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to beef up cooperation between Vietnam's Border Guard Command and the ABF. He said he hoped that the two sides will soon sign the MoU in the near future.

Tam also asked for the two sides' continued joint work to speed up the organisation of the first ministerial-level security dialogue in 2024 and expected that ABF will continue to support Vietnam in customs, English language training, crime and illegal migration control.