At the invitation of Australian Governor-General Sam Mostyn, General Secretary and President To Lam will depart tomorrow, August 9, for a state visit to Australia, accompanied by a high-level Vietnamese delegation.
The state visit to Australia by General Secretary and President To Lam carries special significance. It will be his first visit to Australia in his new capacity and the first by a key Vietnamese leader since the two countries elevated their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2024.
Ahead of the visit, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cuong said the trip underscores the importance Vietnam attaches to Australia as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific and its determination to deepen the new framework of bilateral relations in a substantive and effective manner.
General Secretary and President To Lam receives Australian Governor-General Sam Mostyn during her visit to Vietnam in September 2025. Photo: Pham Hai
The visit builds on more than half a century of diplomatic relations, during which bilateral ties have steadily advanced from a Comprehensive Partnership to a Strategic Partnership and now a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Each upgrade has reflected a higher level of political trust and increasingly intertwined interests.
The visit comes as Vietnam seeks to transform its development model around productivity, knowledge, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and modern governance. These are also areas where Australia has considerable strengths, ranging from fundamental research and strategic technologies to high-quality human resource development and a highly capable public administration and civil service.
According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, the visit’s agenda connects high-level diplomacy with concrete cooperation in the economy, technology, education and human resources. The objective goes beyond expanding bilateral relations to generating new momentum for Vietnam’s development.
Leaders of the two countries will discuss strategic directions for cooperation in technology, energy transition and the training of highly skilled human resources. A highlight will be the TechConnect Forum, designed to strengthen a three-way linkage among governments, businesses, and universities and research institutes from both countries, with the goal of building a shared innovation ecosystem.
A number of important cooperation documents are expected to be signed at the government level and between research institutions and businesses.
Vietnam expects the relationship to make a qualitative breakthrough, with science, technology, innovation and strategic technology industries becoming genuine new pillars of growth alongside trade, investment and education, thereby strengthening the resilience of both economies.
The Deputy Foreign Minister expressed confidence that, building on more than half a century of trust and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework, the visit by the General Secretary and President would provide fresh momentum for deeper Vietnam-Australia relations and deliver tangible benefits to the people and businesses of both countries.
The most dynamic period of development
Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Gillian Bird, front wearing a hat, joins Australian and Vietnamese experts on a visit to a field in the Mekong Delta as part of a climate-resilient rice production project. Photo: Australian EmbassyAn Australian Air Force C-17 strategic airlifter transports Vietnamese peacekeepers as they depart for a United Nations peacekeeping mission. Photo: Pham HaiVietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital takes part in an aeromedical evacuation training course jointly conducted by the Vietnam People’s Army and medical experts from the Australian Defence Force in Hanoi in June 2026. Photo: Australian Embassy
Looking back at Vietnam-Australia relations, Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong said bilateral ties are now experiencing their most dynamic period of development since the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
One of the clearest signs is the level of political trust, with the two countries maintaining regular high-level exchanges and numerous bilateral cooperation mechanisms while working closely together at ASEAN, APEC and the United Nations.
Two-way trade currently exceeds US$14 billion. The two economies are highly complementary, and both countries are members of new-generation free trade agreements and frameworks including the CPTPP, RCEP and AANZFTA. Rather than competing with each other, the two economies need each other. This provides a foundation for expanding trade and investment, diversifying supply chains and developing industries of the future.
Aus4Innovation and the Vietnam-Australia Centre for Strategic Technology are paving the way for cooperation in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, digital data and critical minerals. Science, technology and innovation are therefore emerging as new pillars of growth in bilateral relations.
RMIT University was the first foreign university to operate in Vietnam. More than 35,000 Vietnamese students are studying in Australia, while a community of more than 350,000 Vietnamese people, together with networks of intellectuals and entrepreneurs such as VASEA, provides an enduring bridge between the two peoples. This is a form of social capital that no agreement can create overnight.
Australia is also an important provider of official development assistance to Vietnam in infrastructure, digital transformation, climate change response and green transition. It has also expanded training for Vietnamese officials through the Vietnam Australia Centre (VAC) at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.
Defence and security cooperation is another bright spot. Australia is the only country supporting Vietnam in transporting its field hospitals, while also providing English-language and military medical training, helping strengthen Vietnam’s capacity to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Vietnamnet.vn
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