The Vietnamese Consulate General and diplomatic agencies of otherASEAN member nations in Perth, Western Australia state, held aceremony on August 6 to hoist the ASEAN flag to mark the bloc’s 47thfounding anniversary (August 8).

Speaking at the event, which wasalso to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ASEAN-Australia dialoguepartnership, Perth Mayor Lisa Scaffidi highly valued the important roleof the association in the ties with Australia and Western Australiastate in particular.

She said she hopes the relations betweenAustralia and Southeast Asian nations will be further promoted in thenear future, especially in education, technology, tourism and high-techservices.

Michael Wood from the Australian Department of ForeignAffairs underlined the fine relations between the two sides in recenttime, saying that they share common views on regional and global issues.

In his speech, Vietnamese Ambassador Luong Thanh Nghi hailedthe great development in the ASEAN-Australia ties over the past fourdecades, especially since the two sides established the comprehensivepartnership in 2007 and signed an agreement on the establishment of theASEAN-Australia-New Zealand free trade area in 2009.

He called for practical actions from Western Australia’s authorities to further bolster the ties with ASEAN member countries.

Theceremony was a good chance for participants and local community tounderstand more about the role of the group in regional and globalcooperation mechanisms as well as a contribution to promoting newopportunities for bilateral cooperation.-VNA