At the talks held immediately after the welcoming ceremony, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon warmly welcomed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on his first official visit to New Zealand, the first high-ranking foreign guest of the New Zealand Government since the new Government took office; expressing his belief that the visit would be a great success, contributing to deepening and substantive bilateral relations. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon expressed his admiration and congratulated Vietnam on the achievements in socio-economic development in recent times.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked the Government and people of New Zealand and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his wife for their warm and thoughtful welcome; congratulated the coalition government on its outstanding achievements after its first 100 days of operation, and believed that New Zealand under the leadership of the new government would develop strongly and play an increasingly important role in the region and internationally. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh respectfully conveyed the greetings of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and senior leaders of Vietnam to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
In a friendly and open atmosphere, with high political trust, the two leaders expressed satisfaction and comprehensively discussed the stable, increasingly effective and extensive development of the Vietnam-New Zealand Strategic Partnership in all fields of politics-foreign affairs, economy-trade, security-defense, education-training, agriculture, and labor, towards the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (1975-2025) and 5 years of establishing the Strategic Partnership (2020-2025); especially the regular exchange of high-level delegations; two-way trade turnover has grown positively, reaching 60% in the 2017-2022 period.
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Photo: NHAT BAC |
The two sides agreed on major directions to further deepen cooperation in various fields, which are covered in three pairs of keywords: “stabilize and consolidate”, “strengthen and expand”, “accelerate and break through”. Accordingly:
Firstly, the two sides agreed to stabilize and strengthen 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 implement cooperation mechanisms, including regular contacts between the two Prime Ministers and between Ministers. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh invited Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to pay an official visit to Vietnam at an appropriate time and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon happily accepted the invitation. The two sides also agreed to actively and effectively promote the implementation of the Vietnam-New Zealand Strategic Partnership Action Plan for the 2021-2024 period and promptly develop an Action Plan for the new period.
Second, the two sides agreed to strengthen and expand cooperation in all important pillars of the strategic partnership between the two countries, including economics, trade and investment, national defense and security, agriculture and people-to-people exchange. Accordingly, the two Prime Ministers agreed to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation; strive to bring two-way trade turnover to the target of 2 billion USD in 2024 and 3 billion USD in 2026; and soon double two-way investment through appropriate measures, including opening markets and reducing two-way trade barriers. Vietnam welcomes investment from New Zealand in various fields, especially education and training, high-quality agriculture and renewable energy. On this occasion, the New Zealand Prime Minister announced the implementation of phase 3 of the High-Quality Fruit Varieties Development Project (Vietfruits) worth NZD 6.24 million to support small-scale passion fruit farmers and value chain participants to increase productivity.
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Photo: NHAT BAC |
In the context of the unstable regional and global situation, the two sides agreed to expand defense and security cooperation, effectively respond to traditional and non-traditional security challenges that are increasingly increasing in the region, including transnational crimes, terrorism, natural disasters, and epidemics; strengthen cooperation in the fields of peacekeeping, maritime security, intelligence exchange, etc., contributing to peace, stability, and cooperation in the region and the world.
The two leaders agreed to strengthen agricultural cooperation, including research, cooperation, and response to climate change; developing high-tech agriculture, plant breeding, and food safety management.
The two sides agreed to expand cooperation in culture, education and training, and people-to-people exchanges. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hoped that New Zealand would increase scholarships for Vietnamese students and that New Zealand universities would strengthen ties with Vietnamese universities to meet Vietnam's demand for high-quality human resources. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the early resumption of direct flights would be an important driving force to expand cooperation in these areas.
Third, the two Prime Ministers agreed to accelerate and make breakthroughs in cooperation in science and technology, innovation, green economic development, digital economy, transfer of environmentally friendly technology, emission reduction, agricultural development, emerging technology industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor chips, etc.; make breakthroughs in cooperation in marine economy, protection of marine environment, especially in sharing experiences, building policies, and transferring technology; accelerate cooperation in labor, vocational training, and create conditions for Vietnamese workers to work in New Zealand.
Discussing regional and international issues, the two Prime Ministers affirmed to continue to coordinate and support each other at regional and international forums, especially the United Nations, ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms, APEC, and support each other's candidacies at regional and international organizations. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked New Zealand for supporting Vietnam's candidacy for the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term, congratulated New Zealand on successfully assuming the role of CPTPP Chair 2023, and affirmed that Vietnam will actively promote substantive cooperation programs between ASEAN and New Zealand in its role as coordinator of ASEAN-New Zealand relations for 2024-2027. The New Zealand Prime Minister affirmed to support and cooperate closely when Vietnam hosts APEC Year 2027.
Regarding the East Sea issue, the two Prime Ministers reaffirmed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; resolving disputes by peaceful means, on the basis of respect for international law, especially the 1982 UNCLOS; 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 development.
At the end of the talks, the two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of three important cooperation documents, including the Memorandum of Understanding on financial cooperation for the 2024-2026 period between the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance and the New Zealand Treasury, the Agreement on economic and trade cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Vietnam-New Zealand Strategic Education Cooperation Plan for the 2023-2026 period between the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the New Zealand Education Agency.
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