Delegates at the sixth ASEAN-New Zealand Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting (Source: VNA)Jakarta (VNA) – The sixth ASEAN-New Zealand Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting washeld in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 2, according to the Vietnamese delegationto the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Themeeting aims to assess the ASEAN-New Zealand partnership over the past year,especially the implementation of the Action Plan for 2016-2020 in order torealise the Joint Statement for the ASEAN-New Zealand Strategic Partnership for2016-2020, the People Strategy and the Property Strategy.
Thetwo sides noted with pleasure positive outcomes of cooperation in variousfields in the year, and agreed to enhance result-oriented collaboration in therealms of shared concerns, especially in the areas of New Zealand’s strengthand ASEAN’s priority like agriculture, English language training, vocationaltraining, food security, natural disaster response and development gapnarrowing.
Speakingat the event, New Zealand Ambassador to ASEAN Pam Dunn stressed New Zealand’spolicy of attaching importance to the affiliation with ASEAN and the country’ssupport for the ten-member group in materialising the ASEAN Community Vision2025.
NewZealand backs the central role played by ASEAN and will work to boost cooperationin narrowing development gap, the diplomat pledged.
PamDunn said New Zealand will extend the duration of its funding of the ASEAN-NewZealand Free Trade Agreement Economic Cooperation Programme until December 31,2019.
Thecountry will also actively participate in ASEAN-led regional mechanisms andcontribute to peace, stability and security in the region, including the EastSea issue, he added.
TheASEAN side suggested building concrete measures to reinforce the bilateralcooperation in the areas of common concern, spanning politics-security,economy, culture and social affairs, especially in the implementation of thetwo above-mentioned strategies.
ASEANand New Zealand elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership inNovember 2015 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of theirdialogue partnership.
Theyadopted the 2016-2020 Action Plan with the centre being the People Strategy andProperty Strategy.
Alsoon the occasion, the New Zealand Government committed to contributing 200million NZD (134 million USD) to effectively implement the two strategies.
Theseventh ASEAN-New Zealand Cooperation Committee Meeting is scheduled to takeplace in 2019.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-VNA
VNA
