Promoting comprehensive bilateral financial cooperation between Vietnam and Australia

View of the working session

In attendance at the working session were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to Australia Pham Hung Tam; Director General of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh; Director General of the State Treasury Tran Quan; Chairwoman of the State Securities Commission Vu Thi Chan Phuong; Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Dinh Ngoc Thang, and representatives from other units under the Ministry of Finance.

Welcoming the delegation at the working session, through Minister Ho Duc Phoc, Minister Andrew Leigh extended his deepest condolences to the Vietnamese Government and people for the immense loss of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

According to Minister Andrew Leigh, after the elevation of bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Australia has outlined objectives and concretized cooperative relations into specific action plans in many areas, particularly continuing to coordinate with Vietnam in areas where Australia has strengths such as climate change and clean energy.

Minister Ho Duc Phoc presented a souvenir to Minister Andrew Leigh.

Information support, experience sharing and training of experts in the field of customs

At the reception, Minister Andrew Leigh also emphasized the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Australian Treasury and the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance in June as evidence of the development of the good relationship between Australia and Vietnam in recent times.

Expressing gratitude to Minister Andrew Leigh for taking the time to receive the Ministry of Finance's delegation today, Minister Ho Duc Phoc also expressed deep gratitude to the Australian people, Parliament, and personally to the Minister for visiting and sending condolences to the Party, State, Government, and people of Vietnam for the loss of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Minister Ho Duc Phoc emphasized that after more than 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations, Vietnam and Australia have built a trusted, solid, and increasingly deep cooperative relationship in all areas. Bilateral financial cooperation has always been prioritized for comprehensive promotion.

Informing Minister Andrew Leigh about the purpose and work program of the Ministry of Finance's delegation to Australia this time, the Minister said that along with bilateral and multilateral working sessions with state management agencies, the delegation will organize a Vietnam-Australia Financial Market Connection Forum on August 2 in Sydney.

"We are honored to continue organizing this delegation to deepen and concretely implement the Vietnam-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries in March 2024," the Minister shared.

The head of Vietnam's finance sector also said that Vietnam's import and export situation in the first six months of the year has seen positive growth, including growth in Vietnam-Australia import and export turnover.

However, the value of Vietnam-Australia trade relations has not yet matched the potential and existing relationship between the two countries. Therefore, Minister Ho Duc Phoc hoped that the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance and the Australian Treasury would continue to promote and upgrade the value of trade between the two countries.

At the same time, he expressed the desire for the Australian Minister of Finance to pay closer attention to two-way trade in goods between the two countries, so that customs agencies can exchange goods data and recognize the origin of goods.

"In addition, Vietnam is strongly fighting against drug crime and cross-border smuggling, so we hope that the Australian Customs authorities will support information sharing, experience sharing, and expert training in this field," said Minister Ho Duc Phoc.

Comprehensive cooperation in developing financial markets

Regarding taxation, the Vietnamese Minister of Finance stated that the two countries' tax authorities have exchanged documents, but he hopes that in the future, Australia will support the General Department of Taxation in many areas where the Australian tax authority has strengths such as the application of information technology, e-commerce tax management, and especially the exchange of practical experience and training for risk management experts and tax inspectors.

"This is very meaningful as Vietnam is strongly reforming its tax system, especially in the field of e-commerce," emphasized Minister Ho Duc Phoc.

Regarding the financial market, Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that developing a sustainable financial market is one of the top priorities of the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance.

The Minister also agreed that the two countries have achieved many positive results in the securities market and securities sector, however, in the future, he hopes that the cooperative relations will develop even more effectively.

The State Securities Commission of Vietnam and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will continue to have specific programs to effectively implement the Memorandum of Understanding that is about to be signed.

Minister Ho Duc Phoc added that Vietnam is currently building a carbon credit market and this is one of Australia's strengths, therefore, Vietnam hopes to continue receiving more support from the Australian Treasury.

Thank Minister Ho Duc Phoc for the comprehensive and specific information just shared, Minister Andrew Leigh hopes that the cooperative relationship between the two countries will continue to develop in many aspects.

"During this visit, the State Securities Commission of Vietnam and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will sign a Memorandum of Understanding, which is an important basis for continuing to have more comprehensive cooperation in the future," shared Minister Andrew Leigh.

Minister Andrew Leigh also informed that the green finance and green bonds sectors are also of particular interest to Australia. In June, the Australian Government issued AUD 7 billion in green bonds to support the development of clean energy. Therefore, Australia is ready to support Vietnam in developing the green finance market.

In addition, regarding investment, this is a key content of the Australian Government's promotion of investment in Southeast Asia, and Australia has a representative in Ho Chi Minh City to increase investment activities in Vietnam. On this issue, Mr. Andrey Leigh expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the support of Minister Ho Duc Phoc to promote investment activities between the two countries.