Western Australia looks to deepen Vietnam ties beyond trade

What were your key expectations for this visit?

Two-way trade between Western Australia and Vietnam was valued at around AUD2.7 billion in 2025. We see this as a substantial foundation for continuing to grow the relationship and the economic opportunities in trade and investment between Vietnam and Western Australia.

The focus of this particular delegation is to continue building government-to-government ties, while also providing an opportunity for companies from three specific sectors in Western Australia to grow their partnerships.

Firstly, there is the energy sector, which is an important area for both countries as we recognise that we are all going through a clean energy transition. Western Australia has significant resources and capabilities in the energy space, so we are looking to see how we can help make energy a key area of partnership between Vietnam and Western Australia.

The second area is agriculture. We have been a reliable supplier of agricultural products, particularly cereals and grains, for many years, and we want to continue to grow that relationship. We also want to explore how we can move further towards value-added products, food processing and agri-food products, in order to increase the total value associated with agricultural products.

The third area is international education. Western Australia has a very strong higher education and vocational education and training sector, and we believe there are significant opportunities to grow the partnership between Vietnam and Western Australia.

This includes looking at how we can enhance skills, particularly in building the skilled workforce needed for Vietnam's vibrant, dynamic and growing economy. In terms of higher education, it is also about providing greater connectivity between curricula in Vietnam and Western Australia so that we can build further opportunities in this area.

These three sectors are all underpinned by direct aviation connections. We know that fresh produce can be transported between Western Australia and Vietnam in around six and a half hours via a direct flight between Ho Chi Minh City and Perth.

We also know that international students value direct aviation links as part of their choice of university, so that is an important factor as well. More broadly, we recognise that direct flights are an important part of strengthening people-to-people ties and providing opportunities for businesses to form partnerships through those direct air links.

The Hon Roger Cook MLA, Premier and Minister for Defence Industries, Tourism, Trade and Investment of the State of Western Australia. Photo: Minh Tuan

Beyond securing individual deals, what would you like to see this visit achieve over the next five to ten years?

We know that this is an important opportunity for businesses and organisations in Western Australia to come to Vietnam, listen, understand, and build relationships.

That is the key focus of these trade missions. It is less about transactions and contracts, as we know that these flow from good conversations and strong relationships. The key opportunity here is for these 32 businesses to come here, engage with industry partners in Vietnam, understand the challenges and opportunities, and then use the relationships they build during this mission to develop transactions in the future.

Having said that, we know that a number of businesses have had very strong conversations and discussions here, and some immediate opportunities have presented themselves.

Where do you see the next stage of the agriculture commodities relationship with Vietnam?

I’ve been joined by my Agriculture Minister, department heads, and industry representatives to speak with Vietnamese industry, government, and businesses about the opportunities for the future through agri-food and food processing products.

As you would be aware, we already have significant links through our grain and cereal crops such as wheat. One of the facts that has been given to me is that Australia provides 50 per cent of the wheat that goes into banh mi across Vietnam.

We also see great opportunities in fresh produce, particularly now that we have that direct flight. We can get rock lobster, fresh produce, and other perishable products into Vietnam in six and a half hours once they are put on the plane.

We’ve also had good conversations with Vietnamese businesses about opportunities to collaborate in areas such as poultry farming, for instance.

So, we will continue to build on the strong ties that we already have around our traditional crops and products, while looking at how we can diversify the range of products that come to Vietnam from Western Australia, particularly by taking advantage of those direct aviation links.

How does Vietnam fit into Western Australia's broader trade and investment strategy?

I think that is a really important point, and that was one of the reasons why we brought companies from Western Australia: to give them more confidence about engaging in the market and to look at the opportunities for investment here in Vietnam.

I am delighted to see that a number of those companies are now looking at how they can further the relationships they have established here in Vietnam and continue to grow those partnerships through direct investment.

We spoke with Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee about formalising an agreement that would allow us to establish a more comprehensive partnership, which I think would facilitate more direct investment in that context.

Critical minerals and mining more generally are our real strengths in Western Australia. That is what we do really well. I think mining, or mining engineering and technical services, could therefore be a real opportunity for companies to base themselves here.

In addition, we could potentially grow the opportunities in agriculture. I think we have a lot to learn from Vietnam when it comes to food processing and value addition. In a couple of the meetings, I have had the honour of being involved in, we talked about how we can bring greater technical resources to food processing to add value to those products.

Vietnam does that really well. So, there is something for us to learn there.

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