Your Excellency Mr Ta Ca, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I am delighted to be in Vietnam to co-chair the fourth Australia-Vietnam Joint Trade and Economic Cooperation Committee meeting.
This visit comes at an important time in the development and growth of Vietnam's relations both with its regional neighbours, and the rest of the international community
- Australia warmly welcomed the accession in July of Vietnam to ASEAN and the normalisation of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States
- we had always maintained that these developments were for the benefit of the region and we had taken every opportunity to encourage the parties involved to take these steps.
Similarly, Australia has welcomed Vietnam's commitment to economic reform, and the growing cooperation with the region which this is helping to foster.
Overall, the Australian Government is very pleased with the continuing solid development of the commercial and economic relationship with Vietnam
- bilateral trade has increased ten-fold since 1990 to A$450†million in 1994-95.
Australia is currently the eighth largest investor in Vietnam
- this position has been achieved with contributions from many Australian companies large and small
- including, of course, some of the larger businesses such as BHP Petroleum, Telstra, ANZ Bank, Pacific Power/SECV and Goodman Fielder/Australian Wheat Board
- Telstra's investment amounts to A$400 million, while the BHP/Dai Hung off-shore oil project is worth over A$1†billion.
The highly successful visit to Australia by Communist Party General Secretary Mr Do Muoi last month was another testament to the new partnership we are building with Vietnam.
During the Secretary General's visit, which had a strongly commercial focus, Australian and Vietnamese businesses were able to explore additional opportunities for cooperation
- Secretary General Muoi and the accompanying high-level business delegation made visits to coal mines, power stations, steel works, oil and gas plants, shipyards, tourist developments, telecommunications installations and banking facilities.
I hope appreciation of the opportunities will have become more soundly based during today's JTECC meeting, and as a result of other discussions between Vietnamese business and the Australian business mission accompanying me.
I am particularly pleased that some members of the Secretary General's business delegation were also at JTECC today.
The JTECC meeting has also provided a timely opportunity to review progress in trade and economic cooperation and consider proposals to expand and diversify the existing trade and economic relationship
- a relationship to which Australia wishes to reaffirm its long term commitment.
To this end, JTECC allowed a number of important issues in the bilateral economic relationship to be addressed at a high level including
- credit arrangements for Vietnam
- access for Australian companies to contracts made available through multilateral and bilateral development assistance programs
- specific investment proposals which Australia, through its Trade and Investment Promotion Service, had helped Vietnam to identify
- a valuable discussion about some of the continuing practical problems faced by foreign companies doing business in Vietnam
- and, vice versa, Vietnam's perspective on working with foreign and Australian business.
Our meetings went well and in the spirit of mutual cooperation we have addressed, and in many cases found solutions to, many of the issues we discussed.
The visit also allows me to discuss the general commercial relations between our two countries and specific industry sector issues with senior Ministers.
It is also an opportunity for Australian participants to discuss/follow up particular projects and issues with their Vietnamese counterparts
- and, finally, for our officials to work closely together.
The Australian Government accords priority to expanding trade and investment relations, especially in infrastructure, power/energy/resources and services areas
- key areas in which Australia has much world standard expertise and technology to offer
- and the Government provides strong support to Australian companies doing business in Vietnam through, for example, business missions to Vietnam.
In this context, I wish to make special mention of the Vietnamese Australians who participate in these activities
- the Vietnamese community in Australia is a strong and continuing asset to the bilateral relationship.
The JTECC meeting today will contribute significantly to our mutual aim of expanding commercial relations to the benefit of our two countries.
I wish to thank both delegations for their very positive participation.
And would like to propose a toast for your good health and for continuing cooperation and prosperity between our two nations and peoples.