New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Source: VGP

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon welcomed Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to New Zealand for his first official visit and constructive bilateral talks on Monday, March 11.

Accordingly, the PMs reaffirmed the deep and enduring friendship and strategic partnership shared by Vietnam and New Zealand, underpinned by strong people-to-people links and close cooperation in areas of diplomacy, economics, trade and investment, education, labour, and sci-tech.

“We have built great momentum in our bilateral relationship since the upgrade of our relationship to a Strategic Partnership in 2020. Vietnam is one of New Zealand’s key relationships in Southeast Asia, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and our 14^th largest trading partner. We discussed opportunities to significantly boost annual two-way trade to a new goal of $3 billion in 2026 by enhancing our tourism and education flows, as well as removing non-tariff barriers, accelerating trade promotion activities, fully committing to existing free trade agreements and studying measures to promote greater investment in both directions,” PM Luxon said.

Luxon also announced a new NZ$6.24 million ($3.85 million) investment in Vietnam’s horticulture sector, the ‘Vietnam Climate-Smart Fruit Value Chain (VietFruit)’ project, delivered through a partnership with the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research to support climate and economic resilience in Vietnam’s passion fruit industry, building on the highly successful New Zealand-funded dragon fruit project that preceded it.

The PMs welcomed plans to progress cooperation in the education sector through the new Education Engagement Arrangement focusing on institution-to-institution partnerships in the tertiary sector, innovative education models via digital capability tools, and alumni engagement.

“The New Zealand's government is committed to boosting international education and diversifying our international education markets. Prime Minister Chinh and I discussed opportunities for more Vietnamese students to study at our world-class universities,” PM Luxon said.

PM Chinh’s visit will also see New Zealand and Vietnam advancing cooperation across a range of fronts – with new arrangements also signed on economic and trade cooperation, and finance. High-level defence and police dialogues are also being progressed.

Plans were also announced for a bilateral Oceans Dialogue in 2024 on international law, maritime governance, and marine conservation. The PMs reiterated the two countries’ determination to respect international law, including the United Nations Charter and UNCLOS, and their commitment to working together and with other international partners to contribute to regional peace, stability, and prosperity globally and in the Indo-Pacific.

The PMs looked forward to the 50^th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations next year as an excellent opportunity to expand the relationship into new areas of mutual interest such as the green economy, climate change, digital transformation, and agri-tech cooperation.

“Vietnam and New Zealand have made excellent progress together on our Action Plan for the 2021-2024 period, resulting in significant outcomes in economic and trade initiatives, defence, security, education and labour. Prime Minister Luxon and I have agreed to accelerate the exchange of high-level visits and contacts, and to actively implement cooperation mechanisms as we look forward to elevating our bilateral relations to a higher level in the near future. I am pleased Prime Minister Luxon has accepted my invitation to undertake an official visit to Vietnam at a mutually convenient time,” said PM Chinh.