Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks forward to welcoming top Vietnamese leader To Lam
VGP - The Viet Nam-Australia relationship is grounded in deep strategic trust, mutual interests, and a shared ambition for the future of our region, noted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
According to an announcement of the Australian Embassy in Viet Nam, Prime Minister Albanese will welcome the General Secretary and President To Lam on his visit to Australia from August 9-12.
The leaders will meet for the first time in Canberra on August 11 to discuss opportunities to deepen cooperation.
This will be the top Vietnamese leader's first visit to Australia, following his election as President of Viet Nam in April this year.
"I look forward to welcoming General Secretary and President To Lam to Australia and discussing how we can strengthen cooperation between our two nations", shared Albanese.
"Our two nations share deep cultural ties and around 350,000 Australians have Vietnamese heritage", he added.
Meanwhile, Australia's Ambassador to Viet Nam Gillian Bird shared: "We look forward to welcoming General Secretary and President To Lam to Australia and opening a new chapter in our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership."
His visit to Australia, so early in his term as President, underscores the growing ambition and momentum in our relationship, she underlined, adding that Australia and Viet Nam are bound not only by shared interests, but by a shared commitment to peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
"Under our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, we have deepened cooperation across trade and investment, defence and security, education, digital transformation and the energy transition", said the diplomat.
This visit is about delivery: Practical outcomes that deepen partnership and advance shared prosperity, Bird said.
The bilateral relations have developed remarkably since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1973. On March 7, 2024, the two nations officially elevated their relationship into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, making Australia one of Viet Nam's leading partners.
The increasingly close relationship between the two sides reflects the maturity and breadth of their bilateral ties, spanning a wide range of areas, including politics, trade and investment, education, security and defense, combating transnational crime, and addressing illegal migration.
Building on this foundation, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership represents a major milestone, providing a framework for expanding cooperation in climate, environment and energy, digital transformation, and innovation. It also demonstrates the two countries' strategic trust and shared ambition for their bilateral relationship.
Australia is currently Viet Nam's seventh-largest trading partner, while the Southeast Asian nation is Australia's tenth-largest trading partner. Bilateral trade reached US$14 billion in 2025, with Viet Nam's exports totaling US$6.8 billion and imports US$7.2 billion. The two countries have also opened their markets to a wide range of agricultural products, creating greater opportunities to expand bilateral trade.
As of May 31, Australia had 734 valid investment projects in Viet Nam with a total registered capital of more than US$1.9 billion. Vietnamese investors poured US$554.7 million in 101 projects in Australia. Australia is also one of Viet Nam's largest providers of non-refundable official development assistance (ODA), with total assistance exceeding AUD 3 billion.
In 2025, nearly 550,000 Australian visitors traveled to Viet Nam, an increase of 12 percent, while approximately 200,000 Vietnamese visited Australia. The two countries are currently connected by 56 round-trip flights per week. The Vietnamese community in Australia numbers approximately 375,000 people./.