Face of Nation : Trade and investment opportunities are expected to dominate Scott Morrison’s trip to Vietnam, the first stand-alone visit an Australian prime minister has made there in a quarter of a century.
Mr Morrison will land in Hanoi on Thursday to address a business dinner hosted by Vietnam’s chamber of commerce and attended by big commercial players.
Two-way trade between Australia and Vietnam is at record levels, hitting $14.5 billion in 2018 and doubling since 2012. Mr Morrison will be looking to capitalise on momentum in the relationship, with only India-Australia trade growing at a faster rate than Vietnam.
Australia is aiming to help Vietnam implement the 11-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, with the communist nation needing to cut the number of state-owned enterprises to meet the trade deal. Other trade-related issues likely to play a part in bilateral talks include opportunities around liquid natural gas and infrastructure development.
Major Australian businesses with a presence in Vietnam include ANZ Bank, RMIT International, which has a campus in the southeast Asian nation, shipbuilders Austal and logistics giant Linfox.
Mr Morrison is also expected to receive all the pomp and ceremony of an official state visit before his one-on-one meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
The Australian prime minister will visit Ho Chi Minh’s stilt house, where the founding president and revolutionary lived intermittently between 1958 and his death in 1969. Australia’s defence and security relationship will also be in focus with Vietnam set to take a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council next year.
Vietnam will also assume the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2020. Peacekeeping efforts are likely to be discussed, with Australia’s air force helping airlift Vietnamese forces into South Sudan in 2018. Speaking at the G20 conference in June, Mr Morrison said he was excited about opportunities with Vietnam.
“There is a real enthusiasm both from the Vietnamese side and ours to elevate that partnership,” he told reporters in Osaka. “They are a country that is going through rapid development, and that comes with some wobbles and it comes with the need to support.” He said Australia aimed to help Vietnam to increase growth and implement trade agreements.
“We are for a prosperous, successful Vietnam and that will be in our interest too.” Mr Morrison is also set to visit the construction site for Vietnam’s Formula One Grand Prix race, with the venue to debut in 2020.
