On the afternoon of March 21, Mr. Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial Delegation of the National Assembly Deputies, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council had a courtesy meeting with Mr. Andrew Goledznowski - Australian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Vietnam.

Attending the meeting were comrades: Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (PPC) Bui Dinh Long, Chief of Provincial Party Committee Office Pham Trong Hoang, Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs Tran Khanh Thuc, Secretary of the Provincial Youth Union Le Van Luong.

Overview of the courtesy meeting

At the meeting, Ambassador Andrew Goledznowski expressed his pleasure to visit Nghe An. Although it was the first time he was able to visit Nghe An province, the Ambassador also learned quite carefully about President Ho Chi Minh's hometown.

The Ambassador said that the delegation was impressed when visiting TH Group. TH Group is currently investing in a project in Australia. The Ambassador hoped that the cooperation relationship between Nghe An province and Australia in particular, and between Vietnam and Australia in general, would be increasingly developed.

On behalf of the provincial leaders, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Thai Thanh Quy expressed his pleasure to welcome the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and the delegation members of the Australian Embassy to visit and work in Nghe An. This visit is even more meaningful in the context that 2023 is the 50^th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Australia.

Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Thai Thanh Quy and Ambassador Andrew Goledznowski exchange information

The Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee shared that although Australia is a country located in the Southern Hemisphere, it can be said that when it comes to Australia, it is very close and not strange to many Vietnamese and Nghe An people. It is a large country (ranked 6^th in the world) with beautiful nature, harmonious and developed society, being chosen by many Vietnamese as well as Nghe An people to travel, study, work, settle down, live permanently (The Vietnamese community in Australia has about 350,000 people, ranking 5^th among the ethnic communities of foreign origin in Australia).

“Today, the Ambassador's visit to work shows his good feelings for Vietnam in general and Nghe An province in particular. We really appreciate this sentiment. We see this as an opportunity to promote the development of cooperative relations between Nghe An province and Australia” - emphasized the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee.

At the meeting, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Thai Thanh Quy briefly introduced some characteristics of Nghe An province. Regarding some results of cooperation with Australia, currently, in Nghe An province, there are 02 investment projects from Australia with a total registered capital of nearly 17 million USD (producing animal feed and aquaculture products). Regarding trade, in 2022, import and export turnover reached approximately 15 million USD.

Recently, with the support of the Australian Embassy, Nghe An province also organized a number of investment promotion seminars in Victoria (Melbourne), South Australia (Adelaide) and New South Wales (Sydney) of Australia.

Nghe An Province and the South Australia Department of State Development have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote exchange and cooperation in education and vocational training; creating favorable conditions for Nghe An to send students from Nghe An province to study in South Australia, etc.

In the coming time, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Thai Thanh Quy hopes that the Ambassador will create a bridge to introduce enterprises to learn and invest in Nghe An province, especially in areas such as: High-tech industry; marine economy, marine urban area; tourism, training, finance - banking; hi-tech application agriculture; agricultural and aquatic product processing; and at the same time pay attention and support the project of TH Group in Australia to successfully implement. Continuing to pay attention to promoting advanced educational coordination programs; international training; having a voice in giving priority to the scholarship program funded by the Government for students, cadres and civil servants of the province.

Before the recommendations of the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, the Ambassador said that now there are many Australian enterprises who want to learn and invest in Nghe An in particular and Vietnam in general. Through the sharing of the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, the Ambassador realized that Nghe An province has a lot of potential in attracting investment.

Regarding support for TH Group to invest in Australia, with his function, the Ambassador will help and guide TH Group to invest successfully and profitably in Australia. Australia will also create the most favorable conditions for promoting innovative co-educational programmes.

PT