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It is rare for nations who have been at war to be as close in mutual esteem as Australia and Vietnam have come to be.
In battle, we earned each other's respect as warriors.
In peace, we have gained from each other such benefits as to make us, after long and watchful years, true friends.
In my country, in my city, in my own electorate, the Vietnam people's academic brilliance, business know-how, unflagging work ethic and superb cuisine have brought new excellence to our cities and towns.
In this country, big-spending Australian tourists, admiring of the jazz, the shadow puppets, the water ballet, the Fred Hollows eye hospitals, the war museums, the busy sidewalk restaurants, the commercial tenacity and resilience and the amazing, valiant attitude to traffic flow, have come in increasing numbers to salute and reward the Vietnamese.
It's a culture unlike any other, with foreign currency, business partnerships and unfeigned, heartfelt humility.
What Vietnam has survived, and what has been built here, is beyond praise and enumeration.
We are humbled by this country and the achievements of this country's people as we ought to be, as I am each time I come here, to wonder and to learn.
I am in Vietnam today in a formal role on behalf of the Australian government. Indeed, a range of Australian government agencies are represented at this forum today.
But I recognise that the relations between our countries run much deeper than the connections one observes at official levels. There is public diplomacy, a growing array of business connections and a range of social interactions at varying levels of formality.
The overall relationship between our countries owes as much to the relationships that you in this room have fostered as to anything that the government does. These are connections that have been built not over the last year or two - but in some cases over decades.
As the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, I am particularly impressed with the way Vietnam has developed its economy over the past two decades.
Over the last 20 years, market liberalisation measures in Vietnam have resulted in strong and sustained economic growth and declining poverty, with average annual GDP growth of over 7.0 per cent during the past two decades.
According to the IMF, Vietnam's GDP per capita has risen almost fivefold over the same period.
Vietnam reduced its national poverty rate from 58 percent in 1993 to 12 percent in 2009.
This represents a fundamental improvement in living standards for tens of millions of people.
There is now a middle class of some 15 million people - on conservative estimates. And twice that if we're more generous in the definition.
That represents huge achievement, a huge market of consumption and therefore a huge presentation of both human and business opportunity.
The Vietnamese economy continues to grow strongly, even in the aftermath of the GFC.
It grew by 6.8 percent in 2010, and the IMF has forecast it to grow by 6.3 percent in 2011 and 6.8 per cent in 2012.
I am pleased that Australia has also weathered the GFC relatively well.
And I am proud to say that the prospects for the Australian economy are positive today, with an underlying profile over the next year of solid growth, low unemployment, moderate inflation and a surge in business investment.
The Australian economy grew by 2.3 percent in year average terms in 2009-10 and 2.2 percentage points higher than the average rate of growth for the G7 economies.
Australia's growth rate is not quite as stellar as Vietnam's - but it is nonetheless the envy of many economies around the world today.
Our economic growth is currently being underpinned by strong growth in exports, a surge in investment in machinery and equipment and a rebuilding of inventories.
The Australian labour market has been remarkably resilient in the face of the global downturn and is now staging a solid recovery.
Australia's unemployment rate, at just 4.9 percent, is lower than every major advanced economy except Japan.
Australia-Vietnam Economic Relations
It shouldn't be a surprise that, with both our economies performing so strongly, the bonds between our two economies and societies are also strengthening.
Indeed we have complementary economies.
As I mentioned at the start of my comments, Vietnam and Australia have had very deep cultural and social relations for some decades.
Today there are over 200,000 Vietnam-born Australians and over 45,000 children of whom one or both parents were born in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese community is the third largest group from a non-English speaking background in Australia.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Vietnamese is the sixth most spoken language in Australia.
This is also reflected in increasingly deep economic interactions at an economic level.
Exports from Australia to Vietnam have strongly increased from $0.6 billion in 1999-2000 to $2.4 billion in 2009-2010.
This represents around a fourfold increase - and an average annual growth rate of 16 percent.
The amount that Australia imports from Vietnam also increased, from $1.9 billion in 1999-2000 up to $3.8 billion in 2009-2010.
Net Foreign Direct Investment into Vietnam has become a significant driver of economic growth. FDI totalled US$6.9 billion in 2009, or 7.4 percent of GDP - a substantial and growing proportion.
Australia ranked 20th in overall FDI in Vietnam last year with over US$200m invested.
There is probably no area that better exemplifies the positive outcomes that can arise from our social and economic integration than education.
In 2010, there were 25,687 Vietnamese students enrolled in Australia. Vietnamese student enrolments have grown strongly over recent years, with average annual growth of over 35 percent since 2005.
This strong growth has been recorded across all education sectors over recent years.
Australia is the leading provider of scholarships to Vietnamese students. 398 Australia Awards scholarships will be provided in 2011. Over 1,500 have been provided since 2007.
In addition, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - which is based in my home town - was the first fully foreign-owned university to open in Vietnam. It now has campuses in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
It is fair to say that there is strong mutual benefit from the social and economic interaction that our countries enjoy.
CHI-X
Like Vietnam, Australia benefits greatly from foreign investment.
Australia has been a net importer of capital for most of the past two centuries.
Without it, many of the industries that are currently critical to our economic dynamism, such as the mining and resources sector, would be far less productive.
Foreign investment - and the participation of foreign firms - is critical right across the economy, including in my portfolio of financial services.
It brings not just capital - but also expertise and know-how. And in many industries, foreign participation is a source of competitive tension and innovation.
That is why I am so pleased to announce today I have decided to grant Chi-X an Australian market licence.
Chi-X will be entitled to operate a market in Australia in ASX-listed securities in competition to the ASX.
This is a major development in Australia's equity markets, introducing competitive tensions that will improve outcomes for investors and boost innovation over coming decades in the Australia's financial services sector.
I welcome Chi-X to the Australian market place.
Experience over a number of years in Europe and North America shows that competition will stimulate innovation, reduce the costs of using financial services and attract investment.
These benefits come about through: innovation, efficiency and reduced costs.
Competition in Australian equity markets will deliver more innovation in products and services, more choice in markets, and maintained or improved market quality - including market depth, liquidity and price formation. I expect that this will attract new players, new trading strategies and new liquidity.
Competition will deliver faster and more efficient trading resulting from developments in technology.
Competition will also deliver reduced costs of participating in the market, due to tighter bid-ask spreads and a reduction in transaction fees. ASX has already reduced its fees in anticipation of competition.
The Australian government has a long-standing commitment to competition in financial services - and also to encouraging foreign investment in the Australian financial marketplace, and the Australian economy more broadly.
While competition between financial markets for trade execution services in listed equities is well-established in the US, Canada and Europe, such competition until now has not been a feature of the Australian financial landscape.
In 2009, the Johnson Report into Australia as a financial centre encouraged the development of competitive, efficient and innovative equity markets.
In March 2010, the Government announced in-principle support for an application by Chi-X for a market licence, subject to resolution of a number of outstanding issues including the development of a framework of rules to facilitate competition.
Last Friday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) - the regulator of Corporations Law in Australia - put in place a number of new market integrity rules and associated regulatory guides.
There are a number of additional steps that will need to be taken by Chi-X and the industry before Chi-X will be able to begin operations, expected in October or November if all preconditions are met.
The licence that I have approved is subject to a number of important safeguards and preconditions.
In addition, the government has worked closely with regulators in Australia to ensure that participants in the market have appropriate time to comply with the new investor protections and competition rules which were announced last Friday.
Australia welcomes foreign investment and competition in its financial markets and this announcement will ensure that Australia remains a leading financial centre in Asia for innovation, efficiency and reduced costs.
Conclusion
It is gratifying to see both Australian and Vietnam faring well by most global comparisons - despite turbulent economic conditions over recent years.
Part of the reason why we have been able to achieve the success we both have is a long term commitment to economic reform and integration with the global economy.
But we must not take this appetite for reform for granted, regardless of the distinct differences of our political systems and circumstances.
From Canberra to Hanoi we must keep open minds:
- about the reforms required for the prosperity of future;
- the usefulness of regional forums of discussion and initiative like APEC, the East Asian Summit and the ongoing significance of ASEAN
- the valuable role important development institutions like the ADB can continue to play in this country and the broader region; and
- the benefits that will flow from taking our economic friendship to an even deeper social and cultural one.
There is much cause for optimism as we stride forward into 2011 and beyond.
And so I am very glad to be here. And to hear firsthand your own observations and ideas. Thank you.