As the President of the 17^th ASEAN Summit, PM Dung expressed belief that the summit to mark the 35^th anniversary of ASEAN-New Zealand dialogues will be successful. ASEAN and Vietnam are delighted to bring a comprehensive partnership to ASEAN-New Zealand relations to promote further cooperation between the two sides in future.

The PM asked both sides to implement the agreements signed at the third meeting of the Vietnam-New Zealand Joint Committee, strengthen trade promotion and sign an agreement to avoid double taxation.

PM Dung also asked New Zealand to continue to increase its Official Development Assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, affirming that the Vietnamese government has always created favourable conditions for New Zealand enterprises to do business in Vietnam.

For his part, New Zealand’s PM John Phillips Key highlighted Vietnam’s role as ASEAN President in 2010 and its warm welcome, declaring that the potential for cooperation between the two nations is huge, especially in civil aviation, education and training. PM Philips also invited Mr Dung to pay an official visit to New Zealand at his convenience.

The two PMs confirmed their determination to co-ordinate closely to promote cooperation in such fields as trade, investment, and labour and to devise measures for promoting import-export turnover between the two sides.  

**** At a reception for India’s PM Manmohan Singh, PM Dung emphasised that Mr Singh has made an important contribution to the success of the EAS and the eighth ASEAN-India Summit. He also thanked the government of India for its practical support to the recent flood victims in central Vietnam.

PM Dung affirmed that Vietnam has always done its best to make the Vietnam-India relationship to a traditional relations and strategic partnership.

Mr Singh said that India has always attached importance to developing its partnership with Vietnam. He said that India is willing to help Vietnam improve its information technology capacity and English skills and he expressed a wish to open a cultural centre in Vietnam in the future.

Both PMs expressed delight at the development of Vietnam-India relations in all fields and agreed to promote bilateral ties in trade, investment, training, education, culture, security, and national defense

PM Dung affirmed that Vietnam will create favourable conditions to help Indian businesses to operate in Vietnam particularly in exploiting and processing steel, oil and gas. Both leaders agreed on detailed measures to prepare for the Summit to mark the 20 anniversary of ASEAN-India relations in 2012.

They also agreed on the rights of maritime freedom in the East Sea, emphasizing that ASEAN and China should strictly follow the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).