‘Taste of Australia’ helps deepen Vietnam-Australia ties

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The gala night, held by the Australian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, was attended by Bui Xuan Cuong, vice-chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, and Australian Consul General Sarah Hooper.

“Taste of Australia is enjoyable, of course. But it is also meaningful,” said Hooper.

“It reminds us that the Australia-Vietnam partnership is built not only in meeting rooms or through formal agreements, but also through shared experiences, conversations, trust, and friendship.

“The two nations have built a strong, warm, and increasingly ambitious partnership, and we see this across so many areas, including trade and investment, education, innovation, agriculture, and the people-to-people links that continue to grow stronger every year.

“Events like this [Taste of Australia] bring those connections to life in a very tangible way.”

Speaking at the event, vice-chairman Cuong said that the Taste of Australia Gala Night is an annual event that has, over the years, become a vibrant cultural and culinary gathering, as well as an emotional space for connection between Ho Chi Minh City and Australia.

“I highly appreciate the Australian Consulate General’s continued organization of Taste of Australia as an initiative that effectively brings together trade promotion, cultural outreach, and people-to-people engagement,” he said.

“It is precisely rich, thoughtfully curated activities like this evening’s gala that help nurture trust and deepen mutual understanding, serving as a vivid testament to the long-standing cooperation and friendship between our two nations.”

Diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Australia continue to flourish on the strong foundation of their comprehensive strategic partnership, with cooperation growing ever deeper and more substantive across such fields as economy, trade, investment, education, science and technology, innovation, and people-to-people exchange, said vice-chairman Cuong.

Within the dynamic landscape of cooperation, Ho Chi Minh City stands as one of the most vibrant and effective hubs of connection.

With its newly expanded development space, the new Ho Chi Minh City, which is leading the nation in economic scale, is presented with many new opportunities for cooperation with Australian partners, particularly in sectors where both sides’ strengths complement one another such as high-tech agriculture, food processing, logistics, education, innovation, digital transformation, and sustainable urban development.

The new Ho Chi Minh City was formed by merging the old city with Binh Duong Province and Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province in July last year.

“I am confident that the warm conversations and encounters we share tonight will continue to inspire many new ideas and foster many new connections among our business communities, educational institutions, creative organizations, and peoples,” he said.

“They will further enrich the relationship between Ho Chi Minh City and Australia, while opening up practical new opportunities for cooperation in the future.”

The Taste of Australia program is not only a celebration of food and beverages, but also a celebration of partnership, said Hooper.

It creates space not just to celebrate, but also to connect and to recognize how much can be achieved when Australian and Vietnamese partners work together with trust, goodwill, and shared ambition.

Real privilege to serve in Ho Chi Minh City

“This year’s Taste of Australia is especially meaningful for me because it is my last one in Vietnam,” said the Australian diplomat.

She will be concluding her posting later this month.

“It has been a real privilege to serve in Ho Chi Minh City and to work with so many talented, generous, and committed people across this community.”

She shared that she would leave Vietnam with enormous admiration for the country, deep gratitude for the relationships, and great confidence in the future of the Australia-Vietnam partnership.

“There is a well-known saying: ‘it takes a village,’ but in my view, it takes a megacity – the amazing, unstoppable megacity of Ho Chi Minh City – to bring us all together to build stronger partnership to celebrate food and friendship,” she stressed.

The 2026 Taste of Australia program features a series of highlights, including a restaurant promotion campaign in Ho Chi Minh City running until April 26.