The Vietnamese Embassy in Canberra said that the Australian Foreign Minister made the remarks during his reception for Ambassador Hoang Vinh Thanh on May 12.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressed pleasure at the good relationship between the two countries and said Australia will work closely with Vietnam in completing a blueprint to implement the Australia-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership which was signed in September 2009.

For his part, Ambassador Hoang Vinh Thanh appreciated the Australian Government's decision to increase ODA for Vietnam by 6.5 million AUD, to 119.8 million AUD in 2010-2011, as compared with the previous financial year. He also expressed wish that the Australian Government would continue its support for constructing the Cao Lanh bridge as scheduled.

During the reception, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Ambassador Hoang Vinh Thanh also exchanged views regarding Australian oil and gas companies operating in Vietnamese waters.

Earlier this year, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has stressed that Australia welcomes Vietnam as the new Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the East Asia Summit (EAS) in 2010 and looks forward to continuing the two countries' close cooperation on regional issues.

He said in a message that Vietnam has been Australia ’s fastest growing trading partner in ASEAN over the past five years, adding that economic relationship between the two nations will continue to grow as Vietnam continues its economic reform process./.