Australian Embassy
Vietnam
Embassy address: 8 Dao Tan Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi - Telephone: 3831 7755 - Fax: 3831 7711

Australia Day
Speech by
Australian Ambassador, H.E Mr Bill Tweddell
25 January, 2007 – Hanoi

 


Your Excellency, the Minister for Education and Training, Dr Nguyen Thien Nhan, Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to welcome you all warmly to this celebration of Australia Day 2007.

I am delighted that His Excellency, Dr Nhan, is representing the Government of Vietnam here tonight. For cooperation in the fields of education, training and capacity-building is at the very core of the excellent relationship which Australia enjoys with Vietnam.

Of all the English-speaking countries in the world, Australia welcomes the largest number of students from Vietnam. There are currently some 5,700 students from Vietnam studying in Australia and 7 – 8,000 more undertaking Australian education and training courses in Vietnam.

This is something of which we are very proud. For we believe it enriches both our countries. We treasure our Vietnamese students and our alumni network. And we look forward to welcoming many more in future years.

Like all good friendships, the relationship between Australia and Vietnam continues to diversify and grow. Increasing bilateral trade and investment. Law enforcement. Immigration and border control. Human rights. Development cooperation. Defence. Agriculture. And of course, multilateral issues such as international security and global trade matters. These are just a few of the issues which our vibrant and long-lasting relationship has come to embrace.

A highlight of the past year was the visit to Vietnam by our Prime Minister, the Honourable John Howard MP, for the APEC Leaders’ Week in November. Mr Howard has referred, both publicly and privately, to how well Vietnam organised and ran its APEC year, and to how much Australia had to learn from Vietnam as we take over as the host of APEC in 2007. Vietnam has been most generous to us in sharing its experience.

And Mr Howard was most impressed by the energy and entrepreneurship he encountered in this country.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Australia Day is an opportunity to celebrate many things - and not least the tremendous effort of all the Australians who live and work in Vietnam; continuously broadening our already strong ties with this country.

For Australia Day this year we have chosen to celebrate the diversity of Australia, which is represented perhaps most prominently by the multicultural nature of Australia – one of the most distinctive characteristics of our society.

Indeed, Australia’s more than 20 million people have come to our shores from more than 200 countries and cultures around the world. This is a further fact which we are proud to celebrate on this, our National Day.

Our citizens, coming from all those different backgrounds, have brought with them an extensive array of styles and tastes of food. This wide selection, this vast gamut of choice, is something we like to think of as Australian cuisine – not so much the individual dishes, which have their heritage in cities and towns from around the world, but the variety, the diversity.

Tonight we have tapped into this aspect of our culture – if only to a small degree – and have for you, our guests, foods from around Australia – and therefore, by definition, from around the world. Please feel free to sample as much of our food as you can – we will also be serving fine wine from one of our most popular wine-growing regions, South Australia.

So, Dr Nhan and all of you, our guests, we hope you have a wonderful night.

Minister, chuc suc khoe! Chuc mung nam moi! Good luck, good health and prosperity!

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