Viet Nam and New Zealand issue joint statement on strategic partnership

At the high-level virtual meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his New Zealand counterpart, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the elevation of the two countries’ relationship to a strategic partnership.

On the morning of July 22, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his New Zealand counterpart, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern co-chaired Viet Nam-New Zealand high-level talks. Attending at both sides of Hanoi and Wellington were ministers, heads of Government Office and leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Education of the two countries.

On occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of Viet Nam-New Zealand diplomatic relationship (1975-2020), following the positive and sustainable development momentum of the Comprehensive Partnership established since 2009 between the two countries, on the basis of common vision and deepening trust between the two countries, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern jointly announced the official uplift of Viet Nam-New Zealand relationship to a strategic partnership. The two Prime Ministers expressed their belief that the new relationship framework will create the impetus to promote bilateral relations in all fields for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries, contributing to creating a peaceful and prosperous environment of the Indo-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highly appreciated the comprehensive development of friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries in nearly half a century, especially cooperation relations in political-diplomatic, economic and trade, agriculture, education and people exchanges. The Prime Minister noted that New Zealand's official development assistance over the years has contributed effectively to the socio-economic development of Viet Nam. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Minister requested the two countries to maintain the momentum of developing trade cooperation, striving to bring bilateral trade to 2 billion USD/year. He also suggested New Zealand to open market for Vietnamese agricultural products, share experiences in developing brands and value chains of fruits products in access to high-standard markets.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern congratulated Viet Nam on its successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as its effective epidemic prevention measures, showing the Government's determination to protect health, lives of people, and foreign citizens in Viet Nam. New Zealand’s leader expressed her belief that the two countries' good control of epidemics will create favorable conditions for them to restore connectivity and cooperation in all fields soon.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to assign the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the two countries to develop an Action Plan to implement the Strategic Partnership as soon as possible, including strengthening the exchange of delegations on the channels of the party, government and parliament, organizing periodic meetings between the two Prime Ministers, annual meetings between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Industry and Trade, between leaders of the Ministry of Public Security of Viet Nam and the New Zealand Police Agency, as well as promoting bilateral dialogue mechanisms on agriculture, maritime cooperation and other issues of common interest. The two parties agreed to continue promoting defense and security cooperation in a more substantive approach through delegation exchanges, policy consultations, port visits, training and training cooperation, and coordination to combat transnational crime. The two parties also emphasized their determination to improve the effectiveness of cooperation in all fields, especially education, science - technology and people exchanges.

The two Prime Ministers affirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation and mutual support in multilateral fora, especially when Viet Nam is ASEAN Chair 2020, non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term, New Zealand is about to take on the role of Chairman of APEC in 2021, and while both countries are active members of new generation free trade agreements such as CPTPP and RCEP. The two Prime Ministers emphasized that Viet Nam and New Zealand have similar views and interests on many regional and international issues of common concern, and support multilateralism and regional and international rules-based order. While continuing to express concerns about developments in the East Sea, the two parties affirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight, pursuing the peaceful resolution of disputes and respecting legal and diplomatic processes, in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

On the occasion of the high-level talks and relationship uplift, the two parties issued a Joint Statement on Viet Nam-New Zealand Strategic Partnership and announced four cooperation documents signed on this occasion, including:

• Arrangement between Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Finance with the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries on the Facilitation of Border Clearance of Agricultural, Forestry and Aquatic Products through the use of Electronic Certification;
• Viet Nam - New Zealand Strategic Engagement Plan on Education 2020-2023 between Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training and the New Zealand Education Agency;
• Memorandum of Arrangement on Financial Cooperation between Viet Nam’s Ministry of Finance and the New Zealand Treasury Department; and
• Agreement between the General Department of Vocational Training under Viet Nam’s Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, and New Zealand Government to Government Know-How relating to cooperation in vocational education and skills development.

Source: VGP