ASEAN countries support New Zealand's proposal to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership

Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong and Ambassador Joanna Anderson co-chaired the 13th meeting of the ASEAN-New Zealand Joint Cooperation Committee at the ASEAN Secretariat.

This is the first meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee chaired by Vietnam in its capacity as the coordinator of ASEAN-New Zealand relations for the 2024-2027 period.

The meeting took place in the context of ASEAN and New Zealand moving towards the 50th anniversary of the establishment of relations (1975-2025). The main focus of the meeting was the upgrading of ASEAN-New Zealand relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership at the ASEAN-New Zealand 50th Anniversary Summit in late 2025, as well as the development of a new Action Plan for the period 2026-2030.

Ambassador Ton Thi Ngoc Huong spoke, highlighting the role of New Zealand, one of ASEAN's first partners, with extensive cooperation frameworks, programs, and initiatives, and many positive and effective contributions to the cooperation and development processes in the region over the past 50 years.

The two sides stressed the importance of the relationship and discussed measures to enhance cooperation in many areas, including trade, investment and emerging areas such as digital economy and sustainable development.

ASEAN countries highlighted the development of ASEAN-New Zealand relations since 1975 to become a comprehensive partnership covering the areas of security, trade, education and people-to-people exchanges, and expanding into emerging areas such as digitalisation, sustainability and climate-smart technology. ASEAN countries emphasized their support for New Zealand's proposal to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with ASEAN.

ASEAN countries and New Zealand affirmed the strategic importance of the relationship, emphasizing that the two sides share many concerns, interests and a common vision for peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

Delegates attending the meeting took a group photo.

The countries assessed the positive results on the four pillars of cooperation between ASEAN and New Zealand on peace-prosperity-people-planet (4Ps). Notably, in 2024, the total trade and services between the two sides will reach NZD 27 billion, and New Zealand's total investment in ASEAN will reach NZD 6.45 billion.

The countries said that although the implementation of the 2021-2025 Action Plan has reached 100%, the two sides still have a lot of room for cooperation, potential and complementary advantages.

The two sides emphasized the need to prioritize and allocate resources to enhance economic cooperation, facilitate trade and investment, diversify economic linkages, strengthen supply chains, and effectively promote the recently upgraded ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and other multilateral trade agreements, especially in the face of changes in trade policies of some major countries, increasing protectionism, and rapid and profound shifts in geopolitics and geoeconomics.

At the end of the meeting, the countries affirmed that they will continue to coordinate and cooperate closely, exchange and propose higher cooperation and development orientations for bilateral relations, especially in 2025, when ASEAN celebrates the 10th anniversary of the formation of the ASEAN Community and ASEAN-New Zealand celebrates the 50th anniversary of relations.

The two sides also agreed to link the development of major documents guiding ASEAN-New Zealand cooperation such as the Joint Vision and Action Plan for the 2026-2030 period with ASEAN's long-term development focuses, strategies and orientations.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/cac-nuoc-asean-ung-ho-de-xuat-thiet-lap-quan-he-doi-tac-chien-luoc-toan-dien-cua-new-zealand-313755.html