New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters visits Vietnam

Vietnam is the first stopover during his Southeast Asian tour that demonstrates New Zealand’s policy of prioritizing cooperation with a dynamically developing region.

The visit shows New Zealand attaches importance to ​​strengthening relations with Vietnam due to its rising role and position in the region, which can bring new growth momentum to the New Zealand economy through cooperation, said Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Van Trung.

The two sides will discuss measures to successfully implement the action plan for the 2021-2024 period, identify priorities and new directions for another action plan in the coming years, especially in 2025 when they celebrate 50 years of the diplomatic ties and five years of their strategic partnership.

Activities will aim to strengthen strategic trust and political trust; increase cooperation in traditional fields such as education, culture, human resource training, high-tech agriculture, and people-to-people exchanges; and expand economic, trade, security and defense cooperation, said the ambassador.

According to the diplomat, Vietnam and New Zealand have the potential to make breakthroughs in cooperation in fields such as green economy, digital economy, environmentally friendly technology transfer, greenhouse gas emission reduction, energy conversion, and digital transformation.

The two sides are also recommended to ramp up cooperation in employment, vocational training, marine economy, research and protection of the marine and ocean environment.

During a visit to New Zealand by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in March 2024, the two countries’ Prime Ministers expressed their desire to lift Vietnam – New Zealand relations to new heights, and the effective deployment of the new cooperation directions would support the goal, said the ambassador.