Vietnam and Australia on June 26 inked an agreement on scientific
and technological cooperation, marking a new step forward in bilateral
cooperation in this field.
Signatories to th e
agreement were Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen
Quan and Australia ’s Science and Research Minister Don
Farrell.
Addressing the signing ceremony in
Canberra city, Minister Quan made a brief review of Vietnam ’s
recent achievements in the field of science and technology.
He stressed that t he Vietnamese Government has adopted the National
Strategy for Scientific and Technological Development until 2020, with
the goal of developing an advanced scientific and technological
foundation for the country as compared with its ASEAN peers .
For his part, Farrell affirmed the signing of the agreement is an
important step for Australia in a century of Asia , contributing to
reinforcing Vietnam-Australia bilateral ties.
He
said issues of the two countries’ common concern are climate change
impacts, suitable adapting solutions, and low-carbon economic
development.
Following the signing ceremony,
Minister Quan said Vietnam hopes to tap the partner’s strength in
the fields of agriculture, health care, mineral exploitation, material
technology, and education and training.
The
cooperation in science and technology between Vietnam and Australia
was established in 1992 on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding.
During Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to
Australia in 2008, the two sides agreed to work to upgrade the MoU to
a governmental level agreement.
The agreement was finally signed after four rounds of talks and eight drafts.-VNA