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In Conversation Series | Gordon Flake interviews Cat Thao Nguyen — Transcript

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0:04welcome to another in the series of
0:05perth usa asia center
0:07foreign policy conversations as those of
0:09you who have followed the center for the
0:11last six years know
0:12we have a particular focus on our near
0:15neighbors in what we call the
0:16indo-pacific
0:18those countries are close to us
0:19indonesia thailand
0:22india but in recent years we've had a
0:25particular focus and
0:26and passion for the country of vietnam
0:30not quite as close to perth as jakarta
0:33might be
0:34but a dynamic country which has begun to
0:37impact
0:38not just asean and southeast asia the
0:40region which vietnam sits
0:42but which has really impacted global
0:44views
0:45of the region in which we find ourselves
0:49vietnam is the last country
0:52that a member of our team kyle springer
0:54our one of our research associates
0:56visited uh right before the kobit 19
0:59crackdown and we've had several reports
1:00on it this year so
1:02it's with particular delight that
1:04today's conversation
1:05is with cat cowen a close friend and
1:08supporter of the center
1:09cat is co-founder and chair of the
1:11australia vietnam young leadership
1:13dialogue
1:14she is a managing director of global
1:16ready llc and
1:17a lumina learning partner assisting
1:20clients with inclusive leadership
1:21diversity and belonging strategy
1:23she's worked long in corporate law
1:25private equity international education
1:27she was formerly
1:28chair of the board of loreto vietnam
1:30formerly the managing head of eui law
1:32vietnam
1:33a director of the australian chamber of
1:35commerce in vietnam on the national
1:37advisory board to
1:38the uh sbs here in australia her memoir
1:42we are here was published by alan and
1:44irwin and shortlisted for the 2016 new
1:46south wales premier literary awards
1:48uh and she's now in ho chi minh city
1:50been living back in vietnam since 2007
1:53on a somewhat parochial basis we at the
1:55perth u.s asia center
1:56remember her fondly for both being the
1:59inspiration for
2:00and one of the key delegates to our
2:02inaugural
2:03wa asean trade and investment dialogue
2:07just two years ago
2:08and a kind supporter of us ever since
2:10then so kat thank you for taking the
2:12time and joining us today i appreciate
2:13it
2:14it's really uh fantastic to be with you
2:17gordon
2:18and i have really really fond memories
2:22of that experience with your
2:24organization and also going to perth for
2:27i think it was like a 15-year hiatus i
2:29think
2:30before i went back to wa but it was so
2:33phenomenal
2:34and i think there is just a lot of
2:36potential between wa
2:38and and vietnam and sen
2:41well we had intended to bring you back
2:43this year uh we are going to
2:45continue our annual wa asean trade and
2:48investment dialogue
2:49but it's going to have to be virtual in
2:50in the covid 19 era
2:52but we will look forward to a moment
2:54when when the borders are dropped and we
2:56can resume kind of direct contacts and
2:58make sure that it's not another 15 years
2:59before we get you back
3:01away indeed before we we launch into
3:04more weighty matters i want to
3:06to start out with a more controversial
3:07question i i noted it in several other
3:09previous bios with you
3:11that you're passionate about fish sauce
3:13and so i'm going to just
3:14jump right in with the hard question if
3:16you're an average aussie and all you
3:18know
3:18is and again apologies to the thai the
3:21kind of cheap squid brand
3:23fish sauce that you can find on the
3:24shelves of woolies or
3:26or coals you know what is the next step
3:29up if you want to upgrade should we be
3:30going to viet huang three crab
3:32or you know what should we be looking
3:34for if we want to
3:35join you and among the connoisseurs of
3:37the fine
3:38levels of fish sauce well you know fish
3:41sauce
3:42is uh if you did read um somewhere that
3:46i i really love
3:47fish sauce and shiraz so australian
3:50shirez and vietnamese fish sauce so
3:52that's
3:52well maybe together at the same time
3:54could be a very interesting combination
3:56but um you know it's a bit difficult for
3:59australians because the fish sauce that
4:00i
4:01use is in vietnam and it's not exported
4:04to australia yet
4:05so you know it's a hundred year old
4:07company and
4:08they've been making it a traditional way
4:10so i won't tease you with um
4:12with the brand but i i think if you're
4:15in australia
4:16uh viet hung is the next best thing it's
4:19mass but it's very good
4:21you know so there you go there's my tip
4:23for the day well you entice us to come
4:25to vietnam to try the
4:27the good stuff as you will yes well look
4:29vietnam
4:30is really an interesting case um other
4:32countries japan
4:33korea singapore especially taiwan have
4:36gotten a lot of attention
4:37for their kovid 19 responses uh a
4:40country that hasn't got
4:42nearly as much attention and yet has had
4:43a tremendous response
4:45has been vietnam up until last month
4:47yeah they it had gone for the entire
4:49pandemic without having a single
4:51fatality unfortunately there's been a
4:53relatively small outbreak recently but
4:55vietnam has been quite confident not
4:56only
4:57in his management of the covet 19
4:59pandemic
5:00but of the economic impacts as well i
5:03wonder if you might just
5:04start off by giving this kind of big
5:05picture you're sitting there in ho chi
5:07minh city
5:07you're involved in the business
5:09community obviously like it is in
5:11every other country around the world the
5:13social
5:15health and economic impacts of the
5:17copenhagen
5:18virus are got to be front and center on
5:20your mind and that of your colleagues as
5:22well would you help
5:23our audience understand how vietnam has
5:26handled it
5:26uh and what the broader implications are
5:28for vietnam's
5:29economy uh it's its trade
5:32its engagement with the region
5:36well um i am a little bit disappointed
5:39that um
5:40globally vietnam didn't get as much
5:42coverage as it should have
5:44um you know for a country that borders
5:46china with 96 million people
5:49and even up until the second outbreak
5:52which happened
5:52you know within the last month or so um
5:55vietnam has less than a thousand
5:57infections
5:58right so i mean i think that is quite
6:00phenomenal and
6:01you know the deaths are less than less
6:03than 25
6:04you know so but um in the first wave
6:07no deaths only a few hundred cases now
6:11i think you know as the world bank
6:13described vietnam's um response
6:15it acted rapidly and boldly so
6:18very quickly on um it shut down its
6:20borders it closed all the schools
6:23um and the lockdown as a subsequence
6:26was only 22 days okay so even in this
6:30second wave
6:31we haven't had a national lockdown like
6:33the first
6:34first time so the the implicat and
6:37the way that the vietnamese government
6:39handled i think um
6:40was quite uh coordinated um it does have
6:44a lot of infrastructure
6:46um in order to support the contract
6:49tracing
6:49but it has adopted technology very very
6:52quickly
6:53so you know at the moment it's got um a
6:55blue zone app so
6:57the app is called blue zone and almost
6:59all the citizens have downloaded it and
7:02the app will basically
7:03notify you if you are close um and level
7:06one two or three or four
7:08um to a place where someone has been
7:10infected
7:11so then you you you basically
7:13self-isolate
7:14so um i think it was very rigorous in
7:17terms of the approach
7:18and also this the sentiment of the
7:21vietnamese people
7:22is very collectivist um and so people
7:25you know would feel shame if they would
7:27would cause
7:28burden to the community in preference
7:30for their own rights
7:32so i think that's that's something
7:33that's also a distinguishing
7:35difference um with some of the other uh
7:37countries
7:39um but because the the vietnamese
7:42adopted technology um
7:44they responded not with complacence
7:47they were very uh you know proactive i
7:50think it
7:51has had um still negative
7:54effects for the economy but it has been
7:57sheltered um to some extent
7:59um because vietnam opened up um pretty
8:02much early on while everyone was in
8:04lockdown
8:05it was able to still export okay so
8:08compared to its competitors for example
8:10if you look at
8:11the shrimp and aquaculture industries
8:14you know its competitors are ecuador you
8:16know other countries that were in
8:17complete lockdown so vietnam was able to
8:19actually gain
8:20so even though the growth for vietnam
8:23has been the lowest in 30 years it still
8:26you know registered about 3.8 growth
8:29um in the first few months of the year
8:31yeah
8:32and also you know while its borders were
8:34locked down
8:35um the vietnamese government has allowed
8:37um you know foreign experts to come in
8:40so engineers you know and the like in
8:43order to ensure that
8:44foreign invested uh manufacturing
8:46operations and other essential
8:48operations for export
8:49will be uninterrupted so
8:52whilst the supply chain um raw materials
8:55and so forth
8:56uh you know around the world has
8:58disrupted vietnam's um exports
9:00it's it's still um it's still being able
9:04to
9:04it's complete negative effects have been
9:06mitigated to some extent
9:08the other driver also is that vietnam's
9:11rising middle class and middle class is
9:14very robust
9:15it's the fastest growing middle class in
9:17southeast asia
9:19and because domestic consumption
9:22accounts for about 60
9:23to 62 percent of the entire gdp while we
9:27were
9:27in lockdown and our borders have sort of
9:29relatively been closed
9:31it's domestic consumption that's been
9:33driving um
9:34the economy and out of the you know 60
9:38um of gdp that is domestic consumption
9:4042
9:41is essential foots so 42 is spent on
9:45essential goods and services so the
9:46discretionary spend is only about 20
9:49something percent so you know that has
9:51also helped
9:52vietnam to sort of be you know not as
9:56devastated
9:57um certainly uh there are certain
9:59industry sectors such as tourism
10:01uh which is really devastating
10:03hospitality but i think
10:05overall um it's it's riding this uh
10:08pandemic
10:09pandemic quite well
10:12you know even before covert 19 i think
10:16for those australians who understood the
10:19need for the country to diversify
10:21its trading relationships and its
10:22markets and the potential source of
10:25investment vietnam was
10:26a remarkable you know country of focus
10:30uh the fact that they've got a
10:31population almost four times that of
10:33ours
10:34uh the fact that there are these
10:36long-standing ties
10:37uh has has meant that inevitably we need
10:41to be looking at
10:42as you pointed out uh the country
10:45in southeast asia with the the largest
10:47and
10:48most the right rather the fastest
10:50growing middle class and so
10:51um i wonder if i might take a step back
10:54and look a little bit more
10:55specifically at the australia vietnam
10:58relationship
10:59through your work with the australian
11:00vietnam young leadership dialogue
11:03you've been thinking i think probably
11:04bigger picture about that relationship
11:06itself
11:07uh but it's a really interesting one
11:09australia as a country is
11:11and defines itself as a nation of
11:13immigrants
11:15and much of its success historically and
11:18certainly today
11:19has been built on the efforts and the
11:21innovations and the relationships
11:23that immigrants have brought to our
11:25shores here but vietnam
11:27has a unique place even in the history
11:30of migrants um i think you may recall
11:33from our previous conversation my
11:35my wife is from laos you know the next
11:37door neighbor
11:38uh to to to vietnam she similarly uh due
11:42to the disruption of the vietnam war era
11:44eventually went to the united states uh
11:47as a refugee where i met her there
11:49before our own migration here to
11:51australia
11:52but what we encountered here when we
11:54arrived seven years ago is a country
11:56which had in
11:57fundamental ways been transformed by
12:00vietnamese migration
12:01in a way that it wasn't by british or
12:03european migration because
12:05in some ways it was the vietnamese
12:07migration
12:08that faced the country or forced the
12:10country rather to come to
12:11to to face with its this racist history
12:15with the white australia policy
12:17uh and that led to the more successful
12:19subsequent ways
12:20waves that we're seeing today from china
12:22from other countries in southeast
12:24asia so i'm wondering if you might again
12:26i realize you've written books on this
12:28and it's hard to ask you to summarize
12:30this in a short question but
12:31give us kind of your broad assessment of
12:34the australia vietnam
12:35vietnam relationship the people the
12:37people ties in particular
12:39uh and then where you think the real
12:41potential is for that relationship
12:43in particular to go forward
12:47thanks for the question um gordon and
12:50also the
12:50the context as well um you're right you
12:53know
12:54the the early vietnamese uh community
12:58diaspora in australia i think the
13:01critical mass
13:02was really because of the refugees that
13:04that came after the war and
13:06you're right it did force australia
13:09to reckon within itself and you look at
13:13some of the
13:14uh the debates in parliament around that
13:16time
13:18you know in terms of um
13:22what they were viewing as our
13:24obligations
13:25in australia and these people and the
13:28war that we were involved with
13:30um and you know we were the boat people
13:32you know we arrived in droves
13:35although my family actually went by foot
13:37across the killing fields of cambodia
13:39so we we crossed two borders
13:42through cambodia vietnam through the
13:44jungles through the mass graves and
13:47through the most mined area land mass in
13:50the history of the world
13:52so that was a border between thailand
13:54and cambodia and
13:55we only lost one person and
13:58we managed to arrive in a refugee camp
14:02in thailand and then we we got to
14:04australia so our route
14:06actually meant that for those who went
14:08in that way
14:09um there was only a 10 survival rate for
14:12those that went by boat there was a 50
14:15survival rate and so you know when we we
14:18think about this context and we we
14:19we know now you know we everywhere we go
14:22and we look at this
14:23we take it for granted in terms of you
14:25know the
14:26vietnamese presence in australia but
14:28there also wasn't without teething
14:31so there was a certain time period where
14:33in australia there was a lot of um
14:35you know organized crime and violence
14:37and people sort of forget that and just
14:38sort of think okay here's this sort of
14:40fantastic
14:41contribution that the vietnamese have
14:43made and so i think it's really symbolic
14:45of a bilateral relationship
14:47you know symbolic in that you know you
14:49have to tease
14:50together you have to grow together and
14:53you have to get to a point where
14:55a healthy functioning relationship is
14:58not
14:58extraction so i think you know immature
15:02relationships look at how do i actually
15:04get something from that other country
15:07right and then we move to from
15:09extraction to trade and transactions
15:12so it's what do i have to sell to you
15:14and what do you have to sell to me
15:16but i think a more mature um and nuanced
15:20and successful relationship is
15:22co-creation
15:23and collaboration and this is where we
15:26can see okay
15:27how do we actually create together
15:30solutions for the shared problems that
15:32we actually have
15:33within our particular region and also
15:35subsequently for the world
15:37so i think vietnam and australia has
15:39excellent foundations
15:41it really does um we were one of the
15:43first countries to actually normalize
15:45our relations with vietnam actually
15:48before
15:49the the end of the war so this was in
15:521973 so the war ended in 1975
15:56and during the u.s trade embargo
15:58australia
15:59actually approved aid support for
16:01vietnam which it desperately needed you
16:03know people were starving during that
16:04time
16:05and in 1993 anz was one of the first
16:09banks to actually
16:10obtain a license to operate in vietnam
16:13and in 2012
16:14australia was actually the largest
16:15provider of aid finance to vietnam and
16:18it has built
16:19in critical critically important bridges
16:22and infrastructure in vietnam
16:24and you know there's a bridge in in the
16:26mekong delta called the maitland bridge
16:28it's called the australia bridge by the
16:30locals and my illiterate grandmother
16:32even knew that it was the australia
16:34bridge um
16:36but yet you know in 2017 three years ago
16:39anz you know signs were replaced by
16:42korea's shin hand bank
16:43signs you know when shin hand bank
16:46purchased the the retail arm
16:47the commonwealth bank also closed its
16:50branch in vietnam it used to actually
16:52have an innovation hub
16:54in vietnam servicing the rest of the
16:56world including south africa creating
16:57products for indonesia
16:59now that's also closed as well so you
17:02know when you look at two-way trade
17:04in vietnam it is still actually
17:06relatively low
17:07you know like compared to new zealand
17:09with a country of five million
17:11we have more trade you know with new
17:13zealand than with vietnam
17:15and so i think you know there is a lot
17:17of capacity
17:19um and i think that we did
17:21diplomatically i think we are at
17:23um an incredible stage you know vietnam
17:26signed a strategic partnership with
17:28australia
17:28the highest level of diplomatic
17:30relationship between two nations
17:33um but i think that to be really honest
17:36the japanese and the koreans
17:38have holistically engaged with vietnam
17:41very well
17:42so they have very early on
17:46moved on the continuum of the
17:48relationship beyond extraction and trade
17:50they have moved with soft power
17:52engagement
17:53very very well um and education and
17:56culture
17:57and trade and investment and loans and a
17:59whole bunch of things but it was really
18:01strategic and holistic and coordinated
18:04so what is the result of that the result
18:06of that is
18:07vietnamese are studying in japan more so
18:10more and more than australia when you
18:12look at um online
18:14learning platforms where you look at
18:16short courses like coursera for example
18:18the top searches are japanese language
18:22and korean language right so you know
18:25the the benefits are so much more
18:27multifaceted
18:28and i think there is a lot more
18:30opportunity um for australia
18:32to engage with vietnam on that
18:34particular note
18:35i'd like to speak a little bit about the
18:38people-to-people links
18:39through the australia vietnam young
18:40leadership dialogue
18:42so this is a platform where we are
18:46getting together exceptional young
18:48leaders between 25 and 35
18:51to come together on a transformative
18:53journey
18:54and this looks at leadership it looks at
18:56courage it looks at
18:58sustainability what does it mean to be a
19:01leader
19:02in our region um and it really is about
19:05that
19:06third wave of a healthy relationship
19:08about co-creation
19:10and we are so so proud that sir peter
19:12cosgrove
19:13um the esteemed peter crossgrove is our
19:16patron
19:16so um he recognizes that the future of
19:20the bilateral relationship
19:21is with these types of incredible
19:24visionary young people
19:26peter had a relatively recent visit to
19:28vietnam didn't he wasn't he there just
19:30last year
19:31yes when he was still governor general
19:33he came to vietnam
19:35and was incredibly received uh
19:38by the people in the government there um
19:41he
19:42as you know you know was was um
19:45very significant in the peacekeeping
19:47efforts in east timor
19:49and at the time when he visited vietnam
19:52was sending its first ever peacekeeping
19:56contingent abroad
19:57to south sudan to deploy a military
20:00hospital
20:01and it was really moving i was actually
20:03the project manager for the english
20:05language component which was funded by
20:07the australian government
20:08um so it was really moving you know
20:11being
20:12on the tarmac at this um you know
20:15airport which was formerly
20:16a war ravaged airport a country that was
20:19receiving
20:20aid from the rest of the world and now
20:22contributing to peace
20:24and so sir peter cosgrove addressed the
20:27group
20:28which included men and women and doctors
20:30and nurses
20:31from the military hospital in south
20:33vietnam and um
20:35and was incredibly inspiring but it was
20:37a really moving moment
20:39cat i appreciate your framing of you
20:42know the the co-creation
20:43phase of an economic relationship and
20:46obviously your own
20:46trajectory from a childhood in western
20:49sydney
20:50to being back in vietnam now training
20:52and helping assisting others and in many
20:54cases representing
20:55australia in that same regard is one
20:57example of that however
20:59i also detected a bit of
21:02dismay frustration in your remarks in
21:05the failure of australian business writ
21:07large
21:08to invest to the degree they should be
21:10right and again that would
21:12that would track with our own experience
21:13at the perth usa asia centers you know
21:15six years of of calling for the nation's
21:18business community
21:20to diversify diversity right diversify
21:22has resulted in an economy which is less
21:24diverse before
21:25it's hard to get companies not to kind
21:27of chase the levels of gold that are in
21:29china
21:30and the expectations in china and
21:31they're missing out on kind of the
21:33the the other opportunities are there
21:35you you mentioned the decision of a
21:37nz and commonwealth bank to sell up
21:40it all leads me to a a conclusion
21:43which i'll i'll test whether you agree
21:45with it or not and then maybe get your
21:46reaction to it and that
21:48the next phase of co-creation is much
21:51more likely to be driven
21:53by that rising dynamic
21:56young energetic community in vietnam
21:59than it is the much smaller community we
22:02have here
22:02in australia in other words uh if you
22:05look at your vietnamese counterparts
22:07that are active participating with you
22:09in the australia vietnam
22:11young leadership dialogue my guess is
22:13they're the ones who are
22:15are looking out for partnerships et
22:17cetera and our challenge is just to
22:19entice them
22:20away from korea and away from japan and
22:22let me know here just as an aside
22:24i really appreciate your bringing up
22:26korea
22:27uh and japan because one of the
22:29narratives we hear so often here
22:31in in australia when it comes to asean
22:34is it's too
22:35hard it's too complex there's too many
22:37cultures there's corruption the
22:39ease of doing business is difficult and
22:41my reaction is well
22:42well somehow the koreans have figured it
22:44out you know the japanese have figured
22:46it out what is it that we can't do in
22:47that process
22:48so anyway let me just get your reaction
22:50to that but in particular to
22:52my own sentiment that what we really
22:55need to be doing
22:56is identifying and enticing you know
22:59leaders on that side
23:00to come here to engage with us there
23:03because they're the ones with a lot of
23:04the drive initiative and the numbers
23:08yeah really interesting um point gordon
23:11um on the first one though when you
23:14talked about diversification and
23:15australia
23:16now during covert really sort of
23:20realizing that we have been far too
23:23reliant you know on on say for example
23:26you know china
23:27right you know we you look at different
23:29um uh
23:31different sort of um indices that look
23:34at how
23:35integrated or how reliant are we on on
23:38china especially in
23:40you know strategic areas you know we're
23:42relying on china for
23:44595 categories of goods and 167 in
23:48critical national infrastructure
23:49according to the henry jackson society
23:52and although vietnam is heavily
23:56china is vietnam's largest trading
23:57partner it accounts for 22 percent
24:00you know of vietnam's basically trade
24:02but
24:03i think vietnam has been very strategic
24:06in how it engages with other partners
24:08the chinese
24:09us is second by the way so you know the
24:12manifestations of the tensions vietnam
24:14is absolutely caught in the middle
24:17so i think that you know your
24:20your hypothesis or proposition that
24:24the vietnamese young people or young
24:26leaders
24:27um have a greater propensity to sort of
24:30you know
24:31be fueling the relationship i think is
24:33accurate
24:34gordon i think it's absolutely accurate
24:37and
24:38i think it's also it it's because of a
24:40few things one thing i have observed is
24:42that
24:44because vietnam has been a developing
24:46economy
24:47and the young people who have needed to
24:51look
24:51outwards who have needed to look
24:53outwards
24:54have not looked outwards with a sense of
24:57complacency
24:58right so this is a country where their
25:00parents had experienced you know
25:02starvation and so forth even though you
25:05know 65
25:06of the population are under 30 or 35 and
25:08they don't remember any of that there is
25:11sort of you know those legacies
25:12so when they look outwards and engage
25:14outwards it is
25:16with a sense of drive and hunger and and
25:19and you know entrepreneurial spirit
25:21and is it it is to look outwards in a
25:23very broad sense
25:24so they've looked outwards west they've
25:27looked outwards
25:28north east south right so when you look
25:31at international students the private
25:33fee paying yes have gone west
25:35but the scholarship students have for
25:37long time for a long time gone to
25:39thailand
25:40you know gone to china gone to other
25:43japan to study on scholarship
25:45but when you look at sort of the
25:47equivalent in australia
25:48when we look outwards we look west
25:52we have only looked west and we look to
25:54the us we look to the uk
25:57we look to you know the countries that
25:59we have
26:00traditionally for dominant cultures
26:03aligned with
26:04right now australia is a very
26:06multicultural nation
26:07but i don't think it is the most
26:09successful multicultural nation in the
26:11world
26:12and we still have dominant cultural
26:14norms
26:15that lure and seduce our businesses
26:18seduce our young people you know when
26:21they decide to travel and explore
26:23and so for groundbreaking programs like
26:25the new colombo plan
26:26um you know that is trying to encourage
26:29young young
26:30students at university to sort of spend
26:33time abroad
26:33it still is difficult for for us to get
26:37students who are interested in vietnam
26:40and yet if you look at the data vietnam
26:43is the potential for us to diversify
26:47um it has all of the i guess um
26:50you know key tenants that will make it
26:53a dragon and make it an incredible uh
26:56you know country in its own right um in
26:58the next 10 years
27:00i think both the challenge posed by
27:03those dominant culture norms that you
27:05just addressed and the potential that
27:07is inherent in vietnam underlines what
27:10you were introducing to us just a minute
27:12earlier which is the the work of the the
27:14australia vietnam
27:16young leadership dialogue and i'm
27:18wondering if you might address
27:20the work of the dialogue in this current
27:23time because obviously
27:25we're not able to entice you down to
27:27perth uh international travel is limited
27:29how are you keeping those
27:31people-to-people ties alive in this era
27:34and and particularly how are you
27:36continuing to inspire that rising
27:38generation to be able to challenge those
27:40dominant culture norms that you were
27:41talking about
27:44well the short answer it is it's very
27:46difficult gordon
27:49as uh as you are finding with your own
27:52organization
27:52as well but i think you know what's
27:55really um
27:56important is to always go back to
27:59why you were established so we are
28:03in a process of creating a strategy for
28:06the next um
28:06five plus years um and sir peter
28:09cosgrove
28:10has joined us in our last board meeting
28:12and helping
28:13to help shape that strategy which we
28:15will make public um
28:17in the in the near future but when we
28:21articulated very clearly um our vision
28:24and our mission it is very simple so
28:27we our vision is to advance sustainable
28:30prosperity
28:31through a deeper australia vietnam
28:34bilateral relationship
28:35and our mission is to create ignite and
28:38nurture
28:39a network of exceptional young leaders
28:41from australia and vietnam
28:43to accelerate efforts towards the united
28:46nations sustainable development goals
28:48so we measure our success by by
28:52our impact through these young leaders
28:54and
28:55collaborative efforts and co-creation
28:57against
28:58these global goals which impact all of
29:01humanity
29:02right so it's so what we we do
29:05is every two years through a dialogue a
29:08face-to-face it
29:09was a face-to-face dialogue we bring
29:11these exceptional young leaders together
29:14and we orient them and we ignite within
29:17them a sense of
29:18purpose which is beyond anything that
29:21they have
29:22thought before we believe and so and
29:24then we nurture we
29:26create a platform um and in our ultimate
29:29um goal to create an ecosystem whereby
29:32not just the the delegates and the
29:34alumni but all the stakeholders who
29:36touch
29:37our organization from sponsors to you
29:40know
29:40speakers and community organizations we
29:43create an ecosystem whereby that
29:45co creation is possible and the
29:48co-creation is towards the sustainable
29:51development goals
29:53and i have to say you know the people
29:56that we
29:56have come across as the delegates of the
30:00organization um has been absolutely
30:03phenomenal
30:04you know i mean there are a few people
30:06that i i've mentioned that are
30:08alumni so we have 2000 expressions of
30:11interest but we only choose 10
30:13to represent each country so the
30:15filtering
30:16process is is incredibly difficult and
30:19robust and we involve the ambassadors in
30:21selection and a whole bunch of people
30:23um but you know from vietnam these
30:25people are
30:26you know for example um has 35 000 staff
30:30you know one ceo he's he's a 34 35 000
30:34staff
30:34has been involved in the first
30:37privatization of at any airport in
30:39vietnam
30:40these are critical infrastructure
30:41projects you know um
30:43one person is the youngest property
30:46developer in vietnam and a partner to jw
30:48marriott four
30:49sheraton so she develops um those those
30:52uh real estate projects
30:53um another is um you know uh
30:57manages an impact investment fund that
31:00is one of three
31:01active funds in vietnam in that space
31:03and uh you know we have entrepreneurs
31:05startups storytellers
31:07so so these are people with incredible
31:10influence
31:11and incredible vision so we are
31:14harnessing them
31:15towards a deeper bilateral relationship
31:18for
31:18the benefit of a common good and i think
31:21going back to your earlier point
31:23gordon you are absolutely right it is
31:26with these young people
31:27who don't possibly have a lot of the
31:30um the burdens um or the
31:33the norms that have limited their risk
31:37appetite okay and so from the
31:40australia side you know we have
31:42incredible young australians um
31:45under 35 so they are very established in
31:47their own right
31:48um in a whole bunch of different sectors
31:51um from private equity to
31:52you know to conservation
31:56and it's really good because we have
31:58filtered those who are already have a
32:00demonstrated interest in vietnam
32:02so i think for our for us rather than
32:04you know
32:05mass um trying to sort of get people
32:08interested in vietnam we already
32:09because of our organization we have
32:12people who would naturally
32:14uh come into the ecosystem and then we
32:16just create
32:18opportunities for them to deepen that
32:19interest and therefore to accelerate
32:22the meaning of the bilateral
32:24relationship
32:25well listening to your inspiring
32:28description i would just think
32:29of two quick conclusions number one
32:31obviously i i hope that the next
32:33dialogue can be held in person again as
32:34soon as possible because i can see the
32:36value of that
32:37and given the caliber of participants i
32:39can see that we in wa need to make every
32:42effort to try to entice you to hold one
32:43of your
32:44dialogues here in perth we would love
32:47that
32:48we would absolutely love that let's talk
32:50to your state government
32:53as you mentioned one of the the focuses
32:56of the center for the last three years
32:57has been to support
32:59the state government's asian engagement
33:01strategy
33:02uh and so you were kind enough to join
33:04us uh two years ago for the inaugural wa
33:07asean trade investment dialogue and your
33:09remarks were inspirational then
33:10uh last year we had a larger event still
33:13uh and we had planned for a
33:15even larger event this year it will be
33:17different it'll be it'll be virtual
33:19uh but i our hope really is to inspire
33:22not just the state government
33:24the businesses from the state already uh
33:26you know the perth airport is is
33:28exploring opportunities for direct
33:29flights with vietnam which would make a
33:31tremendous difference
33:33for tourists for investors etc um but i
33:36wonder if i might
33:37in there uh if if we're looking here in
33:39western australia
33:40uh people are as you rightly point out
33:43uh
33:43far more receptive to the diversified
33:46diversified diversified
33:48mantra uh or requirement than they were
33:50before
33:52and they're needing to understand the
33:54potential that is in vietnam so it's not
33:56viewed just
33:57historically but in terms of of where
34:00the country is going
34:01the demographics the middle class the
34:04economic growth
34:06uh are there a couple of of sectors
34:09uh where you think that people should be
34:12paying particular attention to in
34:13vietnam
34:14are there individual success stories
34:18that would inspire the community here in
34:20wa
34:21to give greater priority to or to pay
34:24closer to
34:24attention to vietnam than they are
34:27currently
34:30um i think that
34:34it's really fantastic that the
34:36demographics
34:38as such and the proximity of wa
34:41to asia um make it
34:44possibly more open you know to
34:46engagement and also the time zones is a
34:49really
34:49um critical factor really
34:52um so i think there are a couple of
34:55things you know
34:56um sectors now agriculture
35:00is still a very large um
35:03important um
35:06base for the vietnamese economy even
35:08though it doesn't feature in the top 10
35:11exports
35:12for the people yeah it doesn't actually
35:14feature in top 10 exports
35:16for the people agriculture is incredibly
35:19important
35:20okay now there is a lot of
35:24innovation happening in vietnam in
35:26agriculture technology
35:28so i think for wa um and australia
35:32we have very shared concerns the shared
35:35concerns
35:36are water you know managing um
35:39you know salination managing water
35:41resources
35:43um and climate change is a massive
35:46reality in vietnam
35:47we i think don't have the um
35:51the the the the issues or the politics
35:54around you know climate change
35:56for us um we know in reality and or
36:00also according to the intergovernmental
36:01panel on climate change that the mekong
36:03delta
36:04which is home to millions and millions
36:06of residents is the third
36:08most impacted delta in the world by
36:10climate change and we as
36:12we are seeing all of the changes
36:14happening right now and affecting
36:16so many people and industries so the
36:19government has
36:20oriented um especially in agriculture to
36:23support the development of agriculture
36:25technology
36:26and there is one particular interesting
36:29example
36:30of co-creation so the university of
36:33technology sydney
36:35came to vietnam and created a joint
36:38research center it's the first joint
36:41research center of its kind
36:43for australia in vietnam and it
36:45subsequently has developed another one
36:47so it has two
36:48so they are doing research in
36:50agriculture they're doing research in
36:52cyber um they're doing research around
36:54pollution around
36:55shared concerns um and it is really
36:58interesting
36:59so that was through people-to-people
37:01links but also through institutional
37:03support and
37:04and and um you know formal support and
37:08so
37:08you know the products of that is then
37:11going to benefit
37:12both um both nations and i think that
37:16um you know i actually authored a report
37:18um commissioned by the department of
37:20education and training
37:21from australia called inspired potential
37:24and that report was around
37:26research and innovation partnerships
37:28between australia and vietnam
37:30i can provide you that link later on but
37:33those detailed case studies that are
37:35very practical and that look at
37:37principles of engagement that can lead
37:39to sort of shared innovation
37:41so you know vietnam in terms of energy
37:44resources
37:46is making structural changes so it has
37:49put targets for renewables
37:51um you know to be a very important part
37:54of
37:54of of energy use in vietnam and actually
37:58in 2017
37:59solar was non-existent but by the end of
38:022019
38:03vietnam has the largest share of
38:06solar installed capacity in southeast
38:09asia so it has 44
38:11it surpassed thailand and malaysia
38:14so within two years it put the
38:16infrastructure in place it put the feed
38:18in tariffs it put in the system
38:20the loans beneficial financing and
38:23so it is moving very fast so i hope that
38:26you know your
38:27your um viewers will understand that
38:29vietnam is is not
38:31uh you know a developing lag economy it
38:34is
38:35rapidly moving entrepreneurial
38:38incredible ideas and really
38:39it's only about the nations or the
38:42states
38:43who are savvy enough in order to pivot
38:47um towards vietnam that will reap common
38:50benefits
38:51you know wonderfully put and it fully
38:54comports with
38:55my own multiple trips to vietnam where
38:57the number one impression i came away
38:59with was just
39:00inspiration in in the the youth the
39:03energy
39:04the vigor uh with which they're
39:06approaching the world um
39:07if we in western australia or australia
39:10as a country
39:11approach vietnam as a country where we
39:13can just sell something we're missing
39:15the picture
39:16it really is calling the co-creative
39:18relationship it is
39:19the dynamism that exists there and so
39:22really what we need to be doing is
39:23enticing them
39:24to come here and work more with us but
39:25that requires us to be inspired and i'm
39:28confident that
39:29that after a conversation like this many
39:31of our viewers
39:32uh will take a much closer look at
39:34vietnam and hopefully
39:35engage as quickly as possible following
39:38this covet 19 pandemic
39:40now kat from my own lived experience i
39:42know that uh
39:43the the cheap thai brand squid uh fish
39:45sauce is about two
39:46three dollars in the supermarket the
39:48better vietnamese at viet huang you know
39:51three crab brand is about seven to eight
39:52dollar supermarket
39:54this conversation was uh not yet
39:56available in australia
39:58priceless 100 year old family recipe
40:01only available in vietnam conversation
40:04and i'm delighted to
40:05have it virtually uh to share with that
40:07with our
40:08our community thank you so much for your
40:10time and for joining us
40:11appreciate it thank you so much for this
40:14opportunity
40:14um and i'm looking forward you know to
40:17seeing as many people
40:18you especially gordon um in vietnam when
40:21the board is open
40:22and look forward to a further deeper
40:24engagement thank you
40:26thank you appreciate it

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