Vietnam is a long way from New Zealand, but the two countries have enjoyed close ties for nearly half a century; especially in recent years, the relationship between the two countries has witnessed strong and extensive development. In 2025, the two countries will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Therefore, the official visit to New Zealand by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation is of great significance, creating a breakthrough and contributing to bringing the relationship between the two countries to a new chapter of prosperous and sustainable development.
NEW ZEALAND - The Kiwi country is one of Vietnam's leading partners in the region and one of Vietnam's few strategic partners globally. Political trust between the two countries has been strengthened; senior leaders of the two countries regularly meet and exchange views, even during the Covid-19 pandemic.
New Zealand also has strengths in science and technology, education and training, high-tech agriculture, climate change response, etc., which are areas in which Vietnam is in great need of cooperation today. Arriving in the peaceful capital Wellington these days, we feel the autumn weather, a bit chilly in the evenings and strong winds, true to its nickname “Windy Wellington” because it is located in the Cook Strait between the two largest islands of New Zealand.
Our delegation was particularly impressed with the official welcoming ceremony for Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held at the New Zealand Parliament House in traditional style.
Our delegation was particularly impressed with the official welcoming ceremony for Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held at the New Zealand Parliament House in accordance with traditional rituals: Maori warriors danced the haka to welcome the guests. After the traditional welcoming ceremony was the official welcoming ceremony with a 19-gun salute, the Vietnamese National Anthem was performed twice by the Military Band. This showed that the New Zealand side welcomed the leader with utmost respect, thoughtfulness and sincerity, performing the highest ritual for the head of government.
At a joint press conference after talks with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh summarized the consensus of the two Government leaders with three pairs of keywords: “stabilize and consolidate”, “strengthen and expand”, and “accelerate and break through”.
Firstly, stabilizing and strengthening political trust, strategic confidence, political and diplomatic cooperation, creating a more solid foundation for bilateral relations.
Second, strengthen and expand cooperation on all important pillars of cooperation including: strengthening economic-trade-investment cooperation; expanding defense-security cooperation; strengthening agricultural cooperation, including research, cooperation, and response to climate change; expanding cultural, educational-training cooperation, and promoting people-to-people exchange in appropriate forms.
Third, the Prime Minister especially emphasized three areas that need to be accelerated and made breakthroughs, including: accelerating cooperation in science and technology, innovation, green economic development, digital economy, agricultural development, and emerging technology industries; making breakthroughs in cooperation in marine economy and marine environment protection; accelerating cooperation in labor, vocational training, and creating conditions for Vietnamese workers to work in New Zealand.
For his part, with warm and sincere feelings, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon strongly affirmed that Vietnam and Asian countries are extremely important partners for New Zealand. Vietnam is one of the countries that create a very strong momentum for development. When cooperating with Vietnam, New Zealand will increase opportunities for economic and trade exchanges...
During his meetings with New Zealand leaders, the Prime Minister often mentioned the cultural similarities between the two countries. The Maori have a saying: “It takes the efforts of the whole village to raise a child. It takes the efforts of the whole community to make a person successful.”
In Vietnam, there is a saying: “One tree cannot make a forest. Three trees together can make a high mountain”. Perhaps that is why the two countries are now far away but close, the geographical distance does not discourage the determination to cooperate. The country and people of New Zealand are peaceful, gentle and friendly.
There are currently nearly 15,000 Vietnamese people living, studying and working in New Zealand, including about 6,000 students and short-term and long-term international students. The Vietnamese community in New Zealand is increasingly present in the local socio-economic life; wholeheartedly devoted to the Fatherland, they can contribute more to promoting the relationship between the two countries.
Vietnamese Associations and Student Associations have been established in all major cities of New Zealand, of which four have registered to operate under New Zealand law. During a meeting and talk with members of the Vietnamese community in New Zealand in the capital Wellington, the Prime Minister also encouraged many people to contribute their opinions to the Government, especially on citizen protection. The Prime Minister said he had asked New Zealand leaders to recognize the Vietnamese community as an ethnic minority.
At the meeting with the Vietnamese Science and Technology Group in New Zealand (VietTech NZ), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his impression and appreciation for the contributions of Vietnamese experts and scientists working in New Zealand, saying that these opinions have helped leaders gain new thinking, methodologies, and approaches to problems. The Prime Minister attentively took notes of many practical and enthusiastic contributions, causing the meeting to last much longer than expected.
However, the Prime Minister said that, "having taken the trouble to fly tens of thousands of kilometers here, we must take the opportunity to learn and listen to the practical opinions of experts and scientists in order to make useful contributions to policy making, as well as to set out directions for bilateral relations."
According to experts, most New Zealand companies are small and medium-sized enterprises but they are very dynamic, always willing to expand into international markets and not limit themselves to the domestic market. This is also something that Vietnamese businesses need to learn.
Agriculture is also a strong sector of New Zealand, so the Prime Minister took time to visit the New Zealand Plant and Food Research (PFR) Centre in Auckland city.
The Center has cooperated with Vietnam since the 1980s; currently it is supporting Vietnam through many research cooperation projects, typically developing passion fruit, avocado and dragon fruit, thereby improving productivity and export quality.
The Prime Minister was really impressed by the beautiful scenery on the way to PFR; the staff of the center welcomed the delegation with great respect and enthusiasm by playing and singing a very beautiful Maori folk song. What made the Prime Minister and the delegation especially impressed was when the center invited them to enjoy kiwiberry, a fruit that looks exactly like kiwi, although it is as small as a loquat but has a very fragrant taste, with a pink core and a green outer layer. The center also introduced a very compact plant disease detection machine, which is expected to be brought to Vietnam in the near future.
In an exchange with the center's leaders, the Prime Minister affirmed that the fields of research, production, and export of agriculture and food are pillars in the economic cooperation between the two countries; there is still a lot of room for cooperation. New Zealand has a large land area and a sparse population, while Vietnam has a small land area and a large population, so the two countries can complement each other; he hoped that both sides would make efforts to cooperate and develop more strongly, and conduct research together to accelerate products with potential breakthroughs in the agricultural economy.
The official visit to New Zealand by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife along with the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation was a great success, contributing to bringing the relationship between the two countries to a new height, leaving behind very good feelings for the Government and people of New Zealand, as a New Zealand leader responded by thanking Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh after finishing his important policy speech at Victoria University before leaving for home: "We are truly moved because the Prime Minister has shown abundant energy, making New Zealand understand Vietnam better, we are more closely connected and understand each other, truly going from heart to heart".
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