Ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh spoke at the event. Photo: VOV

The meeting took place at the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia. At the beginning, Ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh summarized the current economic situation and commercial potentials of Vietnam in recent years.

The ambassador said that despite being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam's economy in 2021 has achieved a growth rate of 2.58%. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts that in 2022, Vietnam's economy will have a strong recovery, reaching 6.5% growth, and reaching 6.7% in 2023. Compared with some other countries in the region, Vietnam's economic recovery is relatively good.

Ambassador said in the framework of the annual report "Best Countries Rankings" of the U.S. News & World Report, Vietnam is currently ranked 25th.

Vietnam has the advantage of population. The number of people reaching the middle income level is high. This is a promising investment environment for foreign businesses, not only in big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang but also in other provinces and cities across the country.

Regarding the relationship between Vietnam and Australia, the Ambassador said that the two sides share many economic cooperation frameworks.

The two countries are common members of at least three new-generation free trade agreements, including the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and most recently the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The governments of Vietnam and Australia strongly support bilateral economic cooperation. In 2018, the two countries upgraded their relationship to a strategic partnership. In February 2023, it is expected that Vietnam and Australia will continue to bring this relationship to a new level as a comprehensive strategic partnership.

These will create favorable conditions for businesses of both countries to cooperate and strengthen investment. The Ambassador said he is ready to support Australian businesses in the process of expanding investment, business and trade activities with Vietnam.

At the meeting, the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia introduced a list of projects calling for investment recently issued by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in November 2021, to help Australian businesses better understand the priority areas for investment in Vietnam.

Graham Kinder, vice president of the Australia-Vietnam Business Council said that Australian businesses see a lot of investment opportunities in all areas in Vietnam, from trade and investment to education, tourism and transportation.

That’s why Australia wants to expand its investment in the Southeast Asian nation, he said.

He also stressed that it is time for the two business communities to take advantage of cooperation opportunities in the post-pandemic period, after the two governments officially reopened their national borders and are fostering investment cooperation activities.

Troy Harvey, executive director, New South Wales Health Infrastructure spoke at the meeting. Photo: VNA

Troy Harvey, executive director of New South Wales Health Infrastructure, said the opportunity for the two countries to strengthen trade and investment exchanges is huge.

There's a lot of new medical technology in Australia. The state of New South Wales has some of the world's leading experts in health infrastructure. Representatives of the New South Wales Government also had a number of discussions on this issue with Vietnam, and received attention from the Vietnamese Government.

Harvey wishes to seek investment opportunities, penetrate the Vietnamese market to strengthen distribution of goods and diversify markets.

He said Vietnam is a good market because of its safety and stable environment. Through this meeting, Harvey hopes that Ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh will become a "connector" for businesses of the two countries to cooperate in the future.

The meeting was also attended by a large number of Australian businesses. They all said that the meeting provided an overview of cooperation opportunities between Australia and Vietnam.

The businesses affirmed to strengthen the connection between the business communities of the two countries.

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