Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss trade with key leaders in Vietnam

Albanese arrived in Hanoi on Saturday, where he was met by media and locals while tucking in to local classics at a banh mi restaurant.

He will meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh today, along with Communist Party general secretary, the president and the chairman of the national assembly.

The trip marks a decades-long milestone of diplomatic relations between Australia and Vietnam.

“I’m very pleased to be here on my first official visit to Vietnam as Australia’s Prime Minister, to mark the 50th anniversary of our diplomatic relationship,” Albanese said.

“We are strategic partners and we’ve been enduring friends over that 50 years.”

The prime minister is also expected to discuss defence and security, with the leaders of Vietnam, which shares a border with China.

“(Australia) and Vietnam share a view on the South China Sea, and that the Convention on the Law of the Sea needs to be upheld and maintained,” he told media in Hanoi.

Albanese is expected to arrive back in Australia tomorrow morning.