General Sir Peter Cosgrove appointed as AVYLD’s Patron
Embargo date: 1 July 2020
The Australia-Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue (AVYLD) is honoured to announce the appointment of General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK AC(Mil) CVO MC (RETD) as our Patron.
General Sir Peter Cosgrove was the 26th Governor General of Australia between 2014 and 2019.
He has a lasting connection to Vietnam, following his early military service and subsequently being awarded the Military Cross.
Sir Peter has been a leading voice on Australia-Vietnam relations and as Governor General was involved with the AVYLD. A highlight for us was when he hosted AVYLD’s announcement event at Admiralty House in Sydney in 2019.
In 2018, in his role as Governor-General of Australia, Sir Peter and his wife Lady Cosgrove had a State Visit to Vietnam. He was received by Vietnam’s top leaders and together marked 45 years of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Australia. During that visit, Sir Peter had the opportunity to meet leading alumni of the AVYLD.
The AVYLD, together with Sir Peter in his appointment as Patron, will enable us to accelerate our investment in young leaders, and through them, the shared prosperity of both Australia and Vietnam.
In accepting the position, General Sir Peter Cosgrove provided the following comments.
“Australia’s relationship with Vietnam has never been more important, and the AVYLD is the leading platform to harness the power of young people to drive the relationship.”
“I have personally met many of the exceptional alumni of the AVYLD, and have been inspired by the diversity and quality of this group of young Australian and Vietnamese leaders.”
“AVYLD transforms delegates as individuals, and through the experience, leads to new perspectives and momentum in the Australia Vietnam relationship.”
“I am delighted to be the AVYLD Patron and be able to contribute to a transformative Dialogue that connects changemakers to contribute to a more sustainable future for Australia, Vietnam and the region.”
Ms Cat Thao Nguyen, Co-Founder and Board Chair of AVYLD, welcomed the appointment.
“On behalf of our entire AVYLD family, we are deeply honoured to have Sir Peter as our Patron.”
“As a passionate advocate for young leaders and Australia and Vietnam, Sir Peter will help elevate our objective to enhance the prosperity and sustainability of Australia and Vietnam.”
“Together we will work to form deep and collaborative relationships between exceptional young leaders, with a global outlook and sense of social responsibility”
“We hope to change current paradigms and ways of thinking that have not served our key principles of equity and sustainability. Particularly, in a post COVID world, we need new ideas and perspectives to guide a shared and inclusive recovery for Australia and Vietnam.”
“We look forward to working closely with Sir Peter on our ambitious strategy ahead."
General Sir Peter Cosgrove will commence as AVYLD for a 5 year period from July 2020.
The Australia Vietnam Young Leadership Dialogue (AVYLD/Dialogue) is an independent non-profit initiative that was established to nurture relationships, promote engagement and incubate collaboration between Australian and Vietnamese young leaders from a broad spectrum of society. Through people to people links, we believe the bilateral relationship between Australia and Vietnam can be strengthened to contribute to the development of each respective nation.
For more information about AVYLD: www.australiavietnam.org or follow the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/avyld
Media contact: Ngoc Le [email protected]