Vietnam prioritizes strengthening relations with New Zealand
VOV.VN - Vietnam always attaches great importance to and gives high priority to strengthening relations with New Zealand across all channels, National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue told Adrian Rurawhe, speaker of the House of Representatives of New Zealand during talks on December 6.
Hue, who is in New Zealand for an official visit, said the political-diplomatic relations between Vietnam and New Zealand are developing positively on a high level of trust, as the two sides share many strategic interests as close partners and friends amid complicated and unpredictable developments regionally and globally.
Rurawhe for his part hailed the positive development of the New Zealand – Vietnam relations since the two countries established their comprehensive partnership in 2009 and upgraded their ties to a level of strategic comprehensive partnership in 2020.
He suggested the two sides increase people-to-people diplomacy and cooperation in tourism and education, affirming New Zealand would continue to grant scholarships to Vietnamese students.
The two sides underlined the need to further strengthen economic - trade - investment cooperation, making this field a driving force for development of their relations. They pointed to the fact that the free trade agreements to which the two countries are signatories such as the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) serve as important frameworks for stronger economic cooperation.
Both host and guest agreed that besides traditional cooperation fields such as education - training, tourism, culture, sports, labour, agriculture-forestry-fishery, the two sides should expand cooperation to other new and potential fields such as digital transformation, energy transformation, and climate change response.
Rurawhe highly appreciated Vietnam’s recent decision to officially open its market for New Zealand strawberries and pumpkins.
Meanwhile, Hue suggested that the two sides soon conclude negotiations and sign an agreement on bilateral labour cooperation. He also affirmed Vietnamese airlines are willing to open more direct routes to major cities of New Zealand.
The two leaders lauded the fruitful cooperation between the two legislative bodies both bilaterally and multilaterally, affirming the important and substantive role of parliamentary cooperation in strengthening relations among nations.
They agreed to formulate a cooperation agreement between the two legislative bodies in order to create a legal framework for the two sides to promote cooperation in the coming time.
The two sides also agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, share legislative experience, and coordinate closely at regional and international parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF).
Hue cordially invited Rurawhe to visit Vietnam, and the visit was accepted with pleasure.