Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien made the proposal at a meeting with Tim Ayres, Australian Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Assistant Minister for Trade, on the sidelines of the Trade Ministerial Meeting of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)’s members in Auckland, New Zealand, on July 16.

Both sides agreed to remove bottlenecks faced by their businesses amid the post-pandemic economic downturn, and suggested solutions to boost bilateral trade.

In order to ramp up cooperation in the fields of energy and minerals, Dien suggested that Ayres closely work with relevant Australian agencies so that both sides can soon reach consensus and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the establishment of a ministerial-level dialogue mechanism on energy and minerals between both sides this year.

The mechanism will be crucial in helping the Vietnamese side to realise its energy transition goals, and ensure an important source of input raw materials for industrial and energy sectors as Australia is currently the leading supplier of coal and iron ore products, stressed Dien.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnamese exports to Australia in the first half of the year plummeted following a general decline of global trade, reaching US$2.41 billion, down 14.2% year on year.

Last year saw the two-way trade turnover between both sides edge up by 26.9% to US$15.7 billion compared to 2021. Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus worth US$4.6 billion with Australia, representing a year-on-year rise of 28.7%.

Source: VOV