The Vietnamese Consulate General and diplomatic agencies of other ASEAN member nations in Perth, Western Australia state, held a ceremony on August 6 to hoist the ASEAN flag to mark the bloc’s 47th founding anniversary (August 8).

Diplomats at the flag raising ceremony (Photo: Vietnamese Consulate General in Perth)

Speaking at the event, which was also to celebrate the 40th anniversary of ASEAN-Australia dialogue partnership, Perth Mayor Lisa Scaffidi highly valued the important role of the association in the ties with Australia and Western Australia state in particular.

She said she hopes the relations between Australia and Southeast Asian nations will be further promoted in the near future, especially in education, technology, tourism and high-tech services.

Michael Wood from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs underlined the fine relations between the two sides in recent time, saying that they share common views on regional and global issues.

In his speech, Vietnamese Ambassador Luong Thanh Nghi hailed the great development in the ASEAN-Australia ties over the past four decades, especially since the two sides established the comprehensive partnership in 2007 and signed an agreement on the establishment of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand free trade area in 2009.

He called for practical actions from Western Australia’s authorities to further bolster the ties with ASEAN member countries.

The ceremony was a good chance for participants and local community to understand more about the role of the group in regional and global cooperation mechanisms as well as a contribution to promoting new opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

(Source: VNA)