Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the first ASEAN-Australia Summit. Photo: Nhan dan (People) newspaper

Addressing the first ASEAN-Australia Summit held virtually on October 27, PM Chinh thanked Australia for offering vaccines and medical supplies to ASEAN nations, including Vietnam.

He also suggested Australia enhance support to help ASEAN improve its capacity of preventive medicine and response to medical emergencies and communicable diseases in the future, towards sustainable economic development, Nhan dan (People) newspaper reported.

The Vietnamese leader hailed Australia’s active and responsible contributions to issues related to peace and stability in the region, including the South China Sea (Bien Dong Sea) issue.

On such basis, he wished Australia would continue backing ASEAN’s efforts to maintain peace, stability, security, maritime and aviation safety and freedom in the South China Sea, as well as uphold the abidance by international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) via diplomatic process, promote self-restraint and the settlement of disputes by peaceful means.

The first ASEAN-Australia Summit was held virtually on October 27. Photo: asean.org

Australian PM Scott Morrison affirmed his appreciation of ties with ASEAN, support of ASEAN’s centrality in regional architecture and ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.

He committed to effective participation in ASEAN-led dialogue and cooperation mechanisms on the basis of respecting international law and promoting regional order, thus making positive contributions to peace, security, stability and development in the region.

Morrison vowed to support ASEAN’s stance on the South China Sea issue, uphold the role of promoting dialogue and strengthening trust-building, the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), towards reaching an effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) in line with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS.

Australia welcomes and supports ASEAN’s role in promoting dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping Myanmar seek measures to stabilize the situation, he said.

Participants spoke highly of the positive developments of the ASEAN-Australia partnership. They hailed Australia as a significant economic partner of ASEAN with two-way trade of over AUD100 billion last year.

Concluding the event, they agreed to upgrade ASEAN-Australia ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership level./.

A batch of 300,000 AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses gifted by Australia arrives in Hanoi, September 30, 2021. Photo by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam

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