Trade, region focus for Vietnam PM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will arrive in Australia Thursday for a three-day visit to Canberra, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said trade, security, people-to-people ties and regional cooperation would be discussed during the visit.
"The visit by Prime Minister Khai, his second as Prime Minister, is indicative of the strong people-to-people links that exist between our countries, both at the community level and at the highest political level," Howard said in a statement.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1973, relations between the two countries has expanded in the fields of economics, trade, education, culture development, science, technology and defense.
Formal defense ties between the two countries were established in 1999 and more than 100 Vietnamese military officers have received training in Australia in the past three years.
Last week Vietnam celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and said it wanted to close the past with "past aggressors" and look forward to the future.
In 2004, bilateral two-way trade between Australia and Vietnam in goods and services was valued at Aust. $3.7 billion ($2.85 billion), with trade growing at 14.7 per cent over the previous year.
Vietnam ranks as Australia's fifth largest commodity export market after the U.S., EU, Japan and China.
In March this year, Australia's ANZ bank acquired a 10 per cent stake in the Sacombank, Vietnam's largest retail banking network. The ANZ is the largest foreign bank in Vietnam.
Vietnam, which has been in transition from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy since 1986, is a member of ASEAN and will host the APEC trade summit in 2006.
Vietnam is also keen to gain full membership of the World Trade Organization, but it is estimated the country may have to change more than 200 laws before it is admitted.
Currently Vietnam has concluded six bilateral negotiations with WTO member countries and another 21 negotiations remain to be completed with countries including Australia.
Khai will leave Australia on Saturday before heading to New Zealand.
