Fuel, trade and China are among the top ticket items Anthony Albanese will broach when he sits down with the communist leader of Vietnam next week.<\/p>\n
Vietnamese President To Lam and his delegation of more than a dozen ministers landed in Sydney on Sunday night to a red-carpet welcome.<\/p>\n
Mr Lam was appointed president in April in addition to his role as Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary.<\/p>\n
He last visited Australia as public security minister in 2016 \u2013 a role in which he spearheaded an anti-corruption crackdown that purged thousands of officials, including two presidents.<\/p>\n
Since becoming general secretary in 2024 he has ushered in an overhaul of the public sector, cutting eight ministry-level bodies, merging 63 provinces down to 34, and slashing more than 100,000 jobs by abolishing district-level government.<\/p>\n
His rise has spurred concern from analysts and academics, who fear Vietnam has been saddled with an untouchable supreme leader backed by a powerful security apparatus.<\/p>\n
But the country has become a precious source of trade and energy security for Australia at a time when global supply chains are strained.<\/p>\n
The value of two-way trade has doubled since 2020 and was worth $30bn in 2025, making Vietnam one of Australia\u2019s fastest-growing trading partners.<\/p>\n
It is a top buyer for Australian coal,\ufeff iron ore and aluminium, as well as a major source of international students.<\/p>\n
More recently, Australia has leaned heavily on Vietnam for fuel.<\/p>\n
After engagements in Sydney on Monday, Mr Lam is set to visit Canberra where he is scheduled to meet Governor-General Sam Mostyn and the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to welcoming General Secretary and President To Lam to Australia and discussing how we can strengthen co-operation between our two nations,\u201d Mr Albanese said in a statement this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Vietnam-Australia relationship is grounded in deep strategic trust, mutual interests, and a shared ambition for the future of our region.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur two nations share deep cultural ties and around 350,000 Australians have Vietnamese heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the foreign policy front, Mr Lam has shared similar views to Canberra.<\/p>\n
Against a backdrop of longstanding territorial disputes with China, he warned in May of a world \u201cconfronted with multiple risks and uncertainty\u201d and called on countries to \u201csafeguard peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore connected, yet more vulnerable. More technologically sophisticated, yet more exposed to misuse. More deeply interdependent, yet increasingly susceptible to pressure and coercion,\u201d he told the Shangri-La Dialogue at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile all nations continue to speak of peace, stability and co-operation, the strategic environment is marked by a growing lack of trust, fragmentation and unchecked competition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fuel, trade and China are among the top ticket items Anthony Albanese will broach when he sits down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[89546,89573,57095,89552,49275,41183,17327,5609,69527,46917,89553,41557,89597,38151,89583,89580,89547,89582,89590,46946,89581,37726,46291,89555,67975,50994,89598,89550,89564,48290,89568,89599,483,1572,89545,22,7776,23,89543,21,2184,89576,2285,49358,46993,62508,89601,89577,89586,89595,57228,89557,541,89591,89565,89578,89596,46657,89571,38229,89587,89544,89579,89570,89558,50900,37045,45790,89548,35086,89551,89561,89588,2054,38457,36518,39063,47263,89572,6259,8208,89562,89556,89585,89589,19816,247,89592,37024,89600,38131,40542,41162,86630,89584,89566,36556,89569,89559,89575,38964,17467,89560,89563,60823,89554,62540,89594,16830,89549,89567,89593,89574],"class_list":["post-68264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-fastest-growing-trading-partners-it","tag-s-leader-lands","tag-000-australians","tag-000-jobs","tag-49275","tag-41183","tag-17327","tag-5609","tag-30bn","tag-46917","tag-63-provinces","tag-a-backdrop","tag-a-growing-lack","tag-a-lot","tag-a-major-fuel-supplying-country","tag-a-major-source","tag-a-powerful-security-apparatus-but","tag-a-precious-source","tag-a-red-carpet-welcome-mr-lam","tag-a-role","tag-a-shared-ambition","tag-a-statement","tag-a-time","tag-a-top-buyer","tag-a-world","tag-addition","tag-agenda-packed-state-visit","tag-all-nations","tag-an-anti-corruption-crackdown","tag-an-overhaul","tag-an-untouchable-supreme-leader","tag-analysts-and-academics","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-april","tag-around-350","tag-au","tag-aus","tag-australia","tag-australian-coal","tag-austrlia","tag-canberra","tag-canberra-against","tag-china","tag-co-operation","tag-concern","tag-countries","tag-deep-cultural-ties","tag-deep-strategic-trust","tag-district-level-government-his-rise","tag-eight-ministry-level-bodies","tag-focus","tag-fragmentation","tag-fuel","tag-fuel-after-engagements","tag-general-secretary","tag-global-supply-chains","tag-governor-general-sam-mostyn","tag-ground","tag-his-delegation","tag-his-role","tag-international-students-more","tag-iron-ore-and-aluminium","tag-key-leader-lands","tag-lam","tag-longstanding-territorial-disputes","tag-misuse","tag-monday","tag-more-than-100","tag-more-than-a-dozen-ministers","tag-mr-albanese","tag-mr-lam","tag-multiple-risks-and-uncertainty","tag-mutual-interests","tag-newswire-politics","tag-next-week","tag-night","tag-officials","tag-our-region","tag-our-two-nations","tag-peace","tag-president","tag-pressure-and-coercion","tag-public-security-minister","tag-similar-views","tag-stability-and-co-operation","tag-sunday","tag-sydney","tag-the-communist-leader","tag-the-country","tag-the-foreign-policy-front","tag-the-future","tag-the-leader","tag-the-prime-minister","tag-the-public-sector","tag-the-shangri-la-dialogue","tag-the-strategic-environment","tag-the-time","tag-the-top-ticket-items","tag-the-vietnam-australia-relationship","tag-their-talks","tag-this-week","tag-thousands","tag-trade-and-china","tag-trade-and-energy-security","tag-trust","tag-two-presidents-since","tag-two-way-trade","tag-unchecked-competition","tag-vietnam","tag-vietnam-one","tag-vietnamese-communist-party-general-secretary-he","tag-vietnamese-heritage","tag-vietnamese-president"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}