Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh shakes hands with Australian Governor of Queensland Paul de Jersey. (Photo: VNA)

She went on to highlight the reinforced bilateral political and diplomatic ties as reflected through increasing high-level delegation exchanges.

The official said the two countries’ security-defence cooperation has also been enhanced toward effectiveness, referring to Australia’s support in flying Vietnamese peacekeepers to South Sudan with two of its Royal Air Force transport aircraft last year.

Noting that potential for bilateral economic collaboration remains extensive, Thinh said she hoped that Queensland, with its strengths in industry, agriculture, education, and research, will become a leading locality in pushing Vietnam-Australia ties forward.

Currently, there are about 31,000 Vietnamese students in Australia, 2,000 of them in Queensland. Australia has already offered a significant number of scholarships for Vietnam, while Australian universities and their Vietnamese peers have joined several joint training programmes.

Thinh said she hopes Queensland will strengthen its cooperation with Vietnam in education, particularly the training of Vietnamese students and public personnel.

For his part, Paul de Jersey said he hopes Queensland will have more chances to boost extensive engagements with Vietnamese localities across all fields, particularly education, tourism, energy, and high-technology./.

VNF/VNA