Vietnam-New Zealand relations have made remarkable strides, with the two countries elevating their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in February 2025 during New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to Vietnam.

Vietnam is New Zealand’s 12th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$1.3 billion in 2024 and more than US$700 million in the first half of 2025, up 18.8% year-on-year. New Zealand currently has 57 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of nearly US$210 million, while Vietnam has 12 projects in New Zealand with a combined capital of US$44 million. New Zealand has consistently provided Vietnam with stable official development assistance (ODA).

Cooperation between the two countries in areas such as education and training, agriculture, and labor has yielded encouraging results. Both sides are also actively step up cooperation in climate change response, energy transition, and defence and security.

The Communist Party of Vietnam maintains good relations with New Zealand’s National Party and Labour Party, primarily through the exchange of messages and letters. Leaders of both, the National Party and the Labour Party, have requested meetings with the Party General Secretary of Vietnam during their working visits to the country.

In a recent media interview ahead of the trip, Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Phan Minh Giang said that this visit by Nguyen Trong Nghia to New Zealand holds great importance.

This is the first visit to New Zealand by a Vietnamese leader at Politburo member level since the two countries agreed to take their bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in February 2025, and it comes shortly after Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Gerry Brownlee successfully concluded his official visit to Vietnam at the end of August.

This visit by Nguyen Trong Nghia coincides with Vietnam and New Zealand actively coordinating activities throughout 2025 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1975–2025). At the same time, it takes place amid the continued strong and comprehensive development of Vietnam–New Zealand relations across various areas of cooperation, built on the solid foundation of 50 years of ties, along with deepening political trust and strategic confidence between the two countries.

According to Ambassador Phan Minh Giang, this visit is being given the highest priority by both nations, with careful coordination and preparation. The New Zealand side emphasized the importance of the visit, giving Nguyen Trong Nghia a formal reception as a guest of the New Zealand Government.

Ambassador Phan Minh Giang also noted that during the visit, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, and Head of the Central Commission for Information and Mass Mobilization Nguyen Trong Nghia is expected to pay a courtesy call on the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, work with ministers responsible for higher education and climate change in New Zealand, and hold meetings with the leadership of Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University of Technology.

On this occasion, Nghia will meet Vietnamese Embassy staff, Vietnamese community representatives in New Zealand, as well as with Vietnamese officials and students participating in courses and training programs at Victoria University of Wellington. He and his delegation will attend the 80th National Day celebration of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in New Zealand.

With a broad array of diverse and practical activities, Ambassador Phan Minh Giang believes that this visit by Nguyen Trong Nghia will provide fresh momentum to propel Vietnam–New Zealand relations toward stronger, more dynamic, and comprehensive development. This includes further enhancing political cooperation through regular high-level exchanges across Party, government, and parliamentary channels, making an important contribution to effectively implementing the newly established comprehensive strategic partnership.

Accordingly, the two countries will actively coordinate to make full use of existing potentials and strengths in order to achieve further breakthroughs in various areas of cooperation and deliver more practical benefits for the peoples of both nations.

In addition, during this visit, the Vietnamese official will take time to meet with representatives of associations and the Vietnamese community in New Zealand, demonstrating the attention given by the Party, State, and himself to the Vietnamese community abroad in general and in New Zealand in particular –a part inseparable from the broader Vietnamese community.

Ambassador Phan Minh Giang believes that the meeting will help bring the hearts of Vietnamese overseas in New Zealand closer to their homeland, keeping them informed about the country’s situation, the State’s policies, and the socio-economic achievements of a renewed, integrated, and developing Vietnam, while also encouraging the overseas community to join efforts in realizing the aspiration of building a strong, prosperous, and happy nation.

Education and training have long been a highlight of Vietnam–New Zealand cooperation. Hundreds of scholarships from the New Zealand Government have been awarded to Vietnamese students. Since 1992, hundreds of Vietnamese officials and civil servants have received English and professional training in New Zealand and have returned to make important contributions to national development, the Vietnamese diplomat stressed.

The framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreed upon by Vietnam and New Zealand in February 2025 confirms that education and training will continue to be a key pillar, while opening up new opportunities for the two countries to further ramp up cooperation in this important field.

Within the framework of the visit, Nghia is set to meet with New Zealand’s minister responsible for higher education and the leadership of several prestigious educational and training institutions, such as Victoria University of Wellington and Auckland University of Technology. In addition, he will hold a meeting to encourage Vietnamese officials and students studying and training at Victoria University of Wellington-the university hosting the largest number of Vietnamese students among all universities in the Oceanian nation.

Ambassador Phan Minh Giang believes that these practical activities will undoubtedly make a positive contribution to deepening and enhancing the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation in education and training. This will be achieved through a variety of programs, including joint training initiatives, capacity-building support, professional and academic exchanges, and experience sharing, along with attractive scholarship opportunities, thereby actively contributing to the implementation of Resolution No. 71 dated August 22, 2025, on breakthrough development in education and training, as well as the Government’s action program to carry out this Resolution.

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