During Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visit toAustralia, the two sides issued a declaration on strengthening theVietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which wasestablished on September 7, 2009.

Thedeclaration is designed to build upon achievements, expand and deepenthe strong relationship between Vietnam and Australia and implementprinciples to bring benefits to the region.

The declaration creates a framework for promoting cooperation between the two countries in five key fields.

Firstly, in bilateral cooperation, Vietnam and Australia recognizethe importance of high-leval political dialogues in order to promotebilateral cooperation. The two countries will continue to boosthigh-ranking delegation exchanges and working-level dialogues betweenthe Vietnamese Communist Party, Government and National Assembly withAustralia’s key political parties, Government and Parliament. The twocountries share joint interests in regional peace and security andpledge to continue dialogues and cooperation in defence, security,navigation and aviation safety in the region, law enforcement and thefight against trans-national crimes.

Vietnamand Australia commit to strengthening links between the two countries’people through promoting cooperation in culture, sports and tourism.

They affirm to expand their cooperation inscience, education, vocational training and laws and justice, as well asin environmental protection and climate change response, naturalresources, finance, media, and consular issues.

Regarding regional and international cooperation, Vietnam and Australiarecognise that their security and prosperity are in close associationwith stability in the Indian and Pacific Oceans region. They affirm tocooperate at regional forums to continue developing an assistancestructure for security, stability and cooperation while promotingmeasures to build trust and minimize risks of conflict in the region.

The two countries will cooperate on cementingregional structures, including the East Asian Summit and those in whichthe Association of the Southeast Asian Nations plays a central role, topromote peace, stability, and regional security. The two countries alsocommit to close cooperation at the United Nations (UN) in promotingissues of shared interests and improving the effectiveness of the UNinstitution.

Vietnam and Australia affirm theimportance of maintaining peace and stability in the region, ensuringnavigation and aviation security, safety and freedom, the observance ofinternational law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea ( UNCLOS ) in 1982, not using force nor threatening to useforce. They call on parties to restrain and refrain from any action thatcan escalate tension in the region. The two countries also agree on theurgent need to create a Code of Conduct in the East Sea.

For cooperation in economic growth and trade and industrialdevelopment, the two sides will develop and promote bilateral trade andinvestment relations in key sectors, taking into account that Vietnam’sand Australia’s economies are complementary. They commit to boostingcooperation and make efforts to early complete negotiations of theTrans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership ( RCEP ).

In the field ofdevelopment cooperation, Australia recognises Vietnam’s remarkableachievements in poverty alleviation since the 1990’s and its currentdevelopment goals and will continue supporting Vietnam in implementingits Socio-Economic Development Strategy (2011-2020). The two countrieswill maintain annual dialogues on development assistance.

Regarding cooperation on defence, law enforcement and security,Vietnam and Australia will continue holding dialogues and cooperation ondefence and security through existing multilateral and bilateralcooperation mechanisms, while going forward with joint activitiesaviation and maritime security, peacekeeping, anti-terrorism and issuesrelating to war consequences.

The two countriescommit to boosting cooperation in fighting trans-national crime in theregion, including human and drug trafficking, laundering, and high-techcrimes.

They recognise other challenges such asfood security, natural resources management, and disease and disasterrisks, and intend to cooperate to solve these challenges within thebilateral framework and international forums.-VNA