Party chief highlights Viet Nam-New Zealand deep strategic trust

Party General Secretary To Lam (right) and New Zealand Prime Minister and Leader of the New Zealand National Party Christopher Luxon. (Photo: VNA)

Party General Secretary To Lam hosted a reception in Hanoi on February 26 for visiting New Zealand Prime Minister and Leader of the New Zealand National Party Christopher Luxon.

Welcoming the guest and his entourage on their official visit, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties, Party chief Lam thanked Luxon’s positive remarks about Viet Nam and bilateral ties and commended New Zealand’s foreign policy of valuing its engagement with Southeast Asia.

He expressed satisfaction with the trust-based political relationship between Viet Nam and New Zealand, which serves as a foundation for comprehensive cooperation across various sectors.

He highly valued the outcomes of the talks between the two PMs, particularly the Joint Statement on upgrading bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, saying that this milestone reflects the remarkable progress and profound mutual trust between the two nations, providing a solid framework for their future development.

The General Secretary suggested that the two countries continue bolstering economic and trade collaboration, outlining specific strategies to enhance connectivity between their economies. He also praised New Zealand’s effective governance, strong economy, and advancements in science, technology and education - areas crucial to Viet Nam’s growth.

Expressing gratitude to the New Zealand Government for providing scholarships for Vietnamese students, he noted that New Zealand is becoming an increasingly trusted and favored destination for Vietnamese students to study and conduct research.

Luxon, for his part, believed that under the sound leadership of General Secretary Lam and other leaders, Viet Nam will successfully achieve its goal of becoming a developed country by 2045.

At the meeting between Party General Secretary To Lam (right) and New Zealand Prime Minister and Leader of the New Zealand National Party Christopher Luxon. (Photo: VNA)

New Zealand, with its strengths, expects to accompany and support Viet Nam in achieving its socio-economic development goals in the coming years, he said, expressing readiness to welcome more Vietnamese students, scientists, and researchers to the country for study and research, the leader said.

He also expressed desire to further boost coordination across tourism, trade and investment, connecting two countries’ business communities together.

Both leaders agreed on the future direction of the bilateral ties and believed that the newly established Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework would bring great mutual benefits and contribute to global and regional peace and development.

They also consented to work closely together on global and regional issues. Lam thanked New Zealand for consistently supporting Viet Nam and ASEAN's stance on the East Sea issue and affirmed that Viet Nam is ready to support New Zealand in further strengthening ties with ASEAN, aiming to elevate the ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue Relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

On the occasion, Luxon extended a formal invitation to Lam to visit New Zealand in the near future. The host thanked and assigned both sides to coordinate the arrangements through the diplomatic channel.

* On the same day, State President Luong Cuong received New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. 

At the event, the leaders expressed their delight at cooperation progress in various areas, particularly education, agriculture, trade, culture, and people-to-people exchange. They agreed to develop an action plan for the new partnership, enhance political trust, increase all-level visits and exchanges, and deepen defence-security cooperation.

The two sides will also step up the sharing of information and assessments on regional and global situations, and work together in addressing traditional and non-traditional security challenges.

Both sides committed to close coordination and mutual support at regional and international forums, including the UN, APEC, ASEAN, and ASEAN-led mechanisms.

PM Pham Minh Chinh and New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon pose for a photo before their talks. (Photo: VNA)

* On February 26, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon held talks, aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at their talks. (Photo: VNA)

Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the strong development of bilateral ties, emphasising the growing political trust and strategic confidence strengthened through the exchange of delegations at all levels as well as people-to-people exchanges, and effective bilateral cooperation mechanisms. They affirmed their political resolve to enhance engagement across aspects and support each other’s development goals while contributing to harmoniously solving common regional and global challenges.

The two PMs expressed their pleasure with two-way trade between growing over the years, from 300 million USD in 2009 to 1.3 billion USD at present. Since 1992, more than 600 Vietnamese officials have received English language and professional training in New Zealand, while the New Zealand government has awarded over 600 scholarships for Vietnamese students at the high school, master’s, and doctoral levels. New Zealand has implemented numerous development aid projects in Viet Nam, including initiatives to improve the quality of avocado, dragon fruit, and passion fruit, as well as dam and dyke safety projects in central provinces.

In a significant step forward, the two leaders agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, reflecting the aspirations of their people and a shared commitment to regional and global peace, stability, cooperation, and development. They underscored the need to swiftly develop an Action Programme implementing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for 2025-2028 through concrete initiatives and collaborative projects.

PM Pham Minh Chinh and New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon witness the exchange of cooperation documents between the two countries. (Photo: VNA)

Both sides agreed to deepen political and diplomatic ties through increasing all-level exchanges, maintaining bilateral cooperation mechanisms and implementing signed documents. They pledged to enhance defence and security collaboration, expand partnerships in defence industry and military trade, and work together in transnational crime prevention, maritime security, and United Nations peacekeeping operations.

The two PMs stressed the need for closer economic ties and more effective trade and investment cooperation. They agreed to develop a strategy to connect the two economies, promote the signing of agreements on economic, trade, and investment cooperation, and facilitate market access for each other’s agricultural products, toward the goal of diversifying supply chains and the target of 3 billion USD in bilateral trade turnover by 2026 while doubling two-way investment.

PM Chinh welcomed stronger business connections between the two countries and affirmed Viet Nam’s commitment to creating a favourable investment environment for New Zealand enterprises, particularly those involved in high-quality, modern technology projects.

Both sides also agreed to further breakthroughs in science and technology cooperation, digital transformation, green transition, agriculture, and climate change response. New Zealand pledged continued support in finance, technology and knowledge transfer to help Viet Nam fulfil its international climate commitments, transition to clean energy, and develop renewable energy.

Additionally, New Zealand will enhance support for Viet Nam in sustainable agricultural development and climate adaptation, particularly in the Mekong Delta region.

The two sides also concurred to foster closer people-to-people exchanges through cooperation in education and training, workforce development, and tourism. New Zealand will continue its English Language Training for Officials (ELTO) programme for Vietnamese officials, increase visa quotas for Vietnamese citizens under the Working Holiday Programme, and facilitate the Vietnamese community in New Zealand.

Both sides encourage their airlines to open direct flight routes and promote relationships between localities and universities. Earlier today, at the Education Connectivity Forum held at the Foreign Trade University, the New Zealand Prime Minister announced 98 scholarships at various levels for Vietnamese students.

Regarding regional and international issues, the two sides agreed that amid regional and global complex developments, the two countries strive to promote dialogue and build trust in the region, increase coordination of stance and support each other at regional and international forums, particularly the United Nations, ASEAN, and ASEAN-led mechanisms, while highlighting ASEAN’s central role in the evolving regional architecture.

The New Zealand Prime Minister welcomed Viet Nam’s role as the coordinator for ASEAN-New Zealand relations and agreed to strengthen ties with ASEAN, toward establishing the ASEAN-New Zealand comprehensive strategic partnership framework in the near future.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister highly appreciated New Zealand’s stance on upholding international law in the region and resolving disputes in the East Sea through peaceful means in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UNCLOS./.

Source: VNA