Special and very successful talks between two Vietnamese Prime Ministers

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met with the press to announce the good results of their talks - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

On behalf of the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation, the Prime Minister sincerely thanked the New Zealand Government and people for their warm and thoughtful welcome during his first visit to the peaceful, civilized, beautiful, hospitable, green, clean, beautiful and safe country of New Zealand.

The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to strongly promote the Strategic Partnership with New Zealand; believing that, with many good results, this visit will contribute to bringing bilateral relations to new heights, towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

According to the Prime Minister, Vietnam has always appreciated New Zealand's affection and valuable support over the past 50 years: New Zealand has maintained stable ODA for Vietnam; hundreds of Vietnamese resource officials have been trained in New Zealand; New Zealand experts and scientists have supported Vietnam in producing agricultural products with high export value such as dragon fruit, avocado, passion fruit, etc. In particular, most recently, the enthusiastic support and affection that New Zealand people have given to the Vietnamese women's football team participating for the first time in the 2023 FIFA World Cup held in New Zealand.

"We would like to thank the Government and people of New Zealand for creating favorable conditions for nearly 15,000 people, including 6,000 students and workers, to live, work, study and develop in the beautiful country of New Zealand," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to strongly promote the Strategic Partnership with New Zealand - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

A very special conversation

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that he and his New Zealand counterpart had just had a very special and successful meeting. Both sides were pleased to see that the Vietnam-New Zealand Strategic Partnership is developing well and effectively.

In the spirit of construction and cooperation, the two sides had comprehensive discussions on cooperation areas and proposed directions to further develop the Vietnam - New Zealand Strategic Partnership in the coming time. The Prime Minister summarized with three pairs of keywords: "stabilize and consolidate", "strengthen and expand", "accelerate and break through" as follows:

Firstly, stabilizing and consolidating political trust, strategic trust, political and diplomatic cooperation, creating a more solid foundation for bilateral relations. The two sides will promote delegation exchanges, high-level and all-level contacts through various channels and effectively deploy cooperation mechanisms, including regular contacts between the two Prime Ministers and between Ministers. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh invited and looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his wife to pay an official visit to Vietnam.

Second, strengthen and expand cooperation on all important pillars of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries , including economics - trade - investment, national defense and security, agriculture, culture and people-to-people exchange, and local connectivity. Accordingly:

- Strengthen economic - trade - investment cooperation; strive to bring two-way trade turnover to the target of 2 billion USD in 2024 and soon double two-way investment through appropriate measures, including opening the market and reducing two-way trade barriers. Vietnam welcomes investment from New Zealand in various fields, especially education - training, renewable energy, expanding markets for each other's products, especially agricultural products such as longan, lychee, banana, cut flowers, developing high-tech, high-quality agriculture, plant breeding, and food safety management.

- Strengthen defense and security cooperation, effectively respond to traditional and non-traditional security challenges that are increasing in the region, including transnational crimes, terrorism, natural disasters, and epidemics; strengthen cooperation in the fields of peacekeeping, maritime security, and intelligence exchange, for peace, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

- Expand cultural and educational cooperation, promote people-to-people exchanges in appropriate forms. Vietnam hopes that New Zealand will increase scholarships for Vietnamese students and that New Zealand universities will strengthen their links with Vietnamese universities, while creating favorable conditions for New Zealand people and businesses to work, study and do business in Vietnam. The early resumption of direct flights will be an important driving force to expand cooperation in these areas.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said he and his New Zealand counterpart had just had a very special and very successful meeting - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Third, the Prime Minister especially emphasized three areas that need to be accelerated and made breakthroughs, including:

- Accelerate breakthroughs in science and technology cooperation, innovation, startups, green economic development, digital economy, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge economy, environmentally friendly technology transfer, emission reduction, agricultural development, emerging technology industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor chips...

- Accelerate breakthroughs in marine economic cooperation, marine environmental protection, especially in experience sharing, policy building, and technology transfer.

- Accelerate breakthroughs in labor cooperation, vocational training, create conditions for Vietnamese workers to work in New Zealand; build a legal framework and have appropriate mechanisms and policies to promote and manage this field well.

"We emphasize the need to form a working group mechanism to promote cooperation in the above-mentioned important areas in the spirit of saying what is said must be done, committing to it must be done, doing what is done must have results and products, bringing benefits to the two nations, two countries, and two peoples," the head of the Vietnamese Government emphasized.

The two sides also discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern; agreed to closely coordinate and support each other, especially at the United Nations and multilateral international forums led by ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM); strengthen dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation, effectively respond to common challenges in the region; coordinate to promote cooperation in the Mekong Sub-region; and especially join hands with countries to solve global and people-to-people issues such as war, epidemics, and climate change response in the spirit of international solidarity, upholding multilateralism, taking people as the center and subject, leaving no one behind.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the two sides reaffirmed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; not using force or threatening to use force; resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); highly agreed to exchange and share information and enhance maritime cooperation, and strive to turn the East Sea into a sea of ​​peace, stability, friendship, cooperation and sustainable development.

Both sides hope that conflicts will be resolved soon by peaceful means, humanitarian aid will be increased, no force or threat of force will be used, and international law and the United Nations Charter will be complied with.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon assessed Vietnam as an important partner, one of the countries creating very strong development momentum - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

"Vietnam has become a dragon with remarkable development"

For his part, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the Government and people of New Zealand were honored to welcome Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation; and were pleased to join the Vietnamese side in making political and trade commitments, together contributing to building peace and stability in the region, and bilateral agreements that benefit the people of both countries.

According to the head of the New Zealand Government, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh clearly and specifically summarized the contents of the talks. The New Zealand Prime Minister emphasized the importance of cooperation in various fields to ensure safety, security and promote trade in the region.

He assessed Vietnam as an important partner, one of the countries that create a very strong momentum for development. "I would like to congratulate the Government and people of Vietnam on their great achievements in economic activities. Vietnam has become a dragon with outstanding development and high growth every year," he said.

Over the past five years, two-way trade has increased significantly by 60%, and New Zealand people and businesses have benefited greatly from cooperation with Vietnamese partners. The two sides aim to reach US$2 billion in trade by the end of 2024, as well as cooperation on non-tariff issues, agricultural cooperation, education and especially tourism.

Affirming that the two countries still have many areas with great potential for cooperation, the two sides committed to developing a cooperation plan to achieve the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. New Zealand will continue to invest in Vietnam in the fields of agriculture and environmental protection and has recently made concrete steps to realize the commitments of the two governments.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand sincerely thanked and looked forward to visiting Vietnam soon at the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

On this occasion, the authorities of the two countries signed three important cooperation documents on education - training, trade and finance - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

According to the New Zealand Prime Minister, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The New Zealand Government is committed to implementing plans to further strengthen the friendship between the two countries, enhance cooperation, and bring the Strategic Partnership between the two countries to a new level.

On this occasion, the competent agencies of the two countries signed three important cooperation documents on education and training, trade and finance. The two Prime Ministers agreed to assign the agencies to proactively and actively implement the above agreements.

The two sides believe that, building on the achievements that have been made, with the determination of the leaders and people of the two countries, the Vietnam - New Zealand relationship will continue to develop strongly, in depth, more substantially and effectively, bringing practical benefits to the people of the two countries as well as contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Asia - Pacific region and the world.

Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/cuoc-hoi-dam-dac-biet-rat-thanh-cong-giua-hai-thu-tuong-viet-nam-new-zealand-370646.html