Giang expressed sincere thanks to the Government and people of New Zealand for supporting Viet Nam in the fight against COVID-19. He also informed Henare on Viet Nam's roadmap for staged border reopening post-COVID-19 which is expected to pave the way for closer defense relations between Viet Nam and other countries, including New Zealand.

The Vietnamese minister said despite COVID-19 impacts, Viet Nam and New Zealand has sustained and expanded the bilateral defense ties in accordance with their signed agreements and the Strategic Partnership for the common benefits of each nation and the region.

He highly spoke of the two ministries' efforts in maintaining high-level exchanges and meetings, citing the Viet Nam-New Zealand Defense Policy Dialogue held virtually in December 2020 and this phone talk as examples.

He also appreciated the role and contributions of the New Zealand Ministry of Defense at ASEAN-led multilateral defense-security mechanisms, particularly the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM ).

Viet Nam backs New Zealand to further step up its Strategic Partnership with ASEAN, including the implementation of an action plan in defense and security for 2021-2025.

Both sides agreed that there is plenty of room for the bilateral defense ties to grow further on the basis of the Strategic Partnership. They agreed to request the two ministries to continue making plans for future cooperation, with focus placed on increasing high-level delegation exchanges, establishing dialogue channels between the two countries' defense-security officials and scholars, personnel training, cyber security, search and rescue, and medical studies on communicable diseases.

They also plan to effectively implement a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation in UN peacekeeping missions and soon start the building of a cooperation plan for the next three years./. VNA