New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Tredene Cherie Dobson presents the token of the relief aid package to support Hai Duong province's post-pandemic recovery (Photo: New Zealand Embassy). Hanoi (VNA) – The upgrading of ties between New Zealand and Vietnam intoa strategic partnership in July 2020 is an important milestone in the bilateralrelationship, said Tredene Cherie Dobson, newly-accredited Ambassador of NewZealand to Vietnam.
Following is the full text of the interview of the newly-accredited Ambassador withVietnam News Agency reporters on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties (June 19).
Q: On the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between thetwo nations, could you please evaluate the Vietnam - New Zealand relations in recentyears?
A: The relationship between Vietnam and New Zealand is in great shape. In 2020,our Prime Ministers launched our Strategic Partnership, which marked asignificant milestone in our bilateral relationship. In almost every area, therelationship continues to go from strength to strength.
Despite all of the difficulties posed by the pandemic, I am proud to say thatour two countries have successfully maintained regular high level virtualpolitical exchanges, defence and security cooperation, strong growth inbilateral trade, and expanded education links. The Foreign Ministers and TradeMinisters virtual talks in May and June this year are prime examples of how wehave maintained high level dialogues during the pandemic.
Despite the challenges thrown at us by COVID-19, I am delighted that our traderelationship has continued to grow. Vietnam is New Zealand’s 14th largesttrading partner and two-way merchandise trade topped 1.95 billion NZD by March2021. New Zealand’s exports to Vietnam have seen good growth in a number ofsectors, particularly food and beverage with over 25 percent growth. This showsthe confidence that Vietnamese consumers have in New Zealand’s high-qualityproducts. And in a sign of just how complementary our two-way trade is – Vietnamhas grown its machinery exports to New Zealand by more than 28 percent over thelast year.
I also want to acknowledge the recent strong momentum in defence and securitycooperation between two countries. The effective implementation of the NewZealand-Vietnam Three Year Defence Cooperation Action Plan 2018-2021 and thePeacekeeping Operations Training and Cooperation Implementing Arrangement, aswell as high-level defence visits in both directions, is a signal of thestrengthening defence relations. We are also enjoying a high level of lawenforcement cooperation as we work hard to build upon the 2019 arrangementbetween the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam and the New Zealand Police.
Both countries are committed to working together to counter transnationalorganised crime by actively exchanging information and through trainingprogrammes, including on anti- money laundering.
New Zealand has also invested approximately 26.7 million NZD in the past threeyears through our dedicated bilateral development programme. As a friend of Vietnam,New Zealand provides development assistance in areas where New Zealand has ahigh level of capability matched with a high level of priority for Vietnam suchas agriculture, disaster risk management, knowledge and skills development, andrenewable energy.
Furthermore, every year the New Zealand Government provides 30 post graduatescholarships; 25 English Language Training for Officials awards; and 11 ShortTerm Training Scholarships to Vietnamese students. These awards target Vietnam’sup and coming professionals in agriculture, disaster risk management, renewableenergy, and the public and private sectors. I’m also very proud of our alumni -since the 1990s, more than 355 young Vietnamese students and 550 Vietnameseofficials have studied at New Zealand universities. The reason our educationcollaboration is doing so well is that our institutions are ranked in the top 3percent globally, and are well known for fostering critical thinking andcreativity – two skills critical to a future oriented market place.
Following is the full text of the interview of the newly-accredited Ambassador withVietnam News Agency reporters on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties (June 19).
Q: On the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between thetwo nations, could you please evaluate the Vietnam - New Zealand relations in recentyears?
A: The relationship between Vietnam and New Zealand is in great shape. In 2020,our Prime Ministers launched our Strategic Partnership, which marked asignificant milestone in our bilateral relationship. In almost every area, therelationship continues to go from strength to strength.
Despite all of the difficulties posed by the pandemic, I am proud to say thatour two countries have successfully maintained regular high level virtualpolitical exchanges, defence and security cooperation, strong growth inbilateral trade, and expanded education links. The Foreign Ministers and TradeMinisters virtual talks in May and June this year are prime examples of how wehave maintained high level dialogues during the pandemic.
Despite the challenges thrown at us by COVID-19, I am delighted that our traderelationship has continued to grow. Vietnam is New Zealand’s 14th largesttrading partner and two-way merchandise trade topped 1.95 billion NZD by March2021. New Zealand’s exports to Vietnam have seen good growth in a number ofsectors, particularly food and beverage with over 25 percent growth. This showsthe confidence that Vietnamese consumers have in New Zealand’s high-qualityproducts. And in a sign of just how complementary our two-way trade is – Vietnamhas grown its machinery exports to New Zealand by more than 28 percent over thelast year.
I also want to acknowledge the recent strong momentum in defence and securitycooperation between two countries. The effective implementation of the NewZealand-Vietnam Three Year Defence Cooperation Action Plan 2018-2021 and thePeacekeeping Operations Training and Cooperation Implementing Arrangement, aswell as high-level defence visits in both directions, is a signal of thestrengthening defence relations. We are also enjoying a high level of lawenforcement cooperation as we work hard to build upon the 2019 arrangementbetween the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam and the New Zealand Police.
Both countries are committed to working together to counter transnationalorganised crime by actively exchanging information and through trainingprogrammes, including on anti- money laundering.
New Zealand has also invested approximately 26.7 million NZD in the past threeyears through our dedicated bilateral development programme. As a friend of Vietnam,New Zealand provides development assistance in areas where New Zealand has ahigh level of capability matched with a high level of priority for Vietnam suchas agriculture, disaster risk management, knowledge and skills development, andrenewable energy.
Furthermore, every year the New Zealand Government provides 30 post graduatescholarships; 25 English Language Training for Officials awards; and 11 ShortTerm Training Scholarships to Vietnamese students. These awards target Vietnam’sup and coming professionals in agriculture, disaster risk management, renewableenergy, and the public and private sectors. I’m also very proud of our alumni -since the 1990s, more than 355 young Vietnamese students and 550 Vietnameseofficials have studied at New Zealand universities. The reason our educationcollaboration is doing so well is that our institutions are ranked in the top 3percent globally, and are well known for fostering critical thinking andcreativity – two skills critical to a future oriented market place.
New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Tredene Cherie Dobson (Photo: New Zealand Embassy ). A: As both our countries look to achieve strong economic growth as part of theCOVID19 recovery, the ambitious trade goals we have set will be an importantfocus. We are fortunate to have some very high-quality free trade agreements (FTAs)that link our two countries so we will be working hard to ensure that ourexporters in both countries are able to leverage those agreements. In terms of specific sectors, I see a lot ofpotential in the green economy – and that includes everything from agri-tech toIT services. New Zealand and Vietnam areboth very innovative economies and we need to take greater advantage of that.
Agriculture is another great example of where both countries have been able tobenefit from the relationship. We have an Agricultural Cooperation Arrangementwhich supports bilateral trade but also is helping to reduce agriculturalgreenhouse gas emissions and promoting food safety and rural development.
In terms of our agricultural trade, we are fortunate to have very complementaryproducts. New Zealand’s kiwi fruit and apples have consolidated their positionin the Vietnamese market. New Zealand’s cherries are also becoming increasinglypopular, especially during Tet. New Zealanders also enjoy nuts and tropicalfruits from Vietnam, including Vietnam’s iconic dragon fruit and rambutans. Weactually have a tremendous development programme that is drawing on New Zealand’sexpertise in fruit production to develop three new dragon fruit varieties in Vietnam.Our local partners are now in the process of commercialising those newvarieties with the support of New Zealand’s research institute as well asgetting the license trademark for the new varieties. These high-quality fruitsare specifically designed with strong disease resistance, increased storagelife, and new colour and flavour profiles, promising to satisfy growers andcustomers in Vietnam and worldwide.
The pandemic has of course presented challenges for students traveling to NewZealand. Previously, nearly 3,000 Vietnamese students were studying in NewZealand, and we hope that we can re-establish these numbers when borders aresafe to open again. There has been a silver-lining though as educationproviders have become a little bit more creative - New Zealand educationinstitutions have been developing flexible in-country options, such as JointProgrammes and foundation study centres, and there are ongoing exchanges abouton-line learning and curriculum development.
Technology is a relatively new area in our bilateral relationship, but it has alot of potential. Technology is now New Zealand’s third largest export sector.We have some world-leading companies that are working with Vietnamese partnersin diverse areas such as cutting-edge health software, detailed meteorologicalforecasting, and clean technology in renewable energy and climate-resilientagriculture.
Q: As a new Ambassador to Vietnam, could you share with us your plans to boostthe Vietnam - New Zealand ties in your tenure?
A: With the successful launch of the New Zealand - Vietnam StrategicPartnership in July last year, our two Prime Ministers laid out the challengeof how we can deepen and broaden our relationship. Currently here at theEmbassy we are working very hard with our Vietnamese partners to describe ourambitions for the Strategic Partnership in a detailed action plan. This willguide both countries and help ensure the relationship continues on the greattrajectory it is now on.
As a small but innovative country, New Zealand has decades of experimentationin key areas of public policy and many of the solutions we have developed havebeen world leading. Much of what we have learned and developed can be appliedelsewhere. Through the Government to Government Know-How programme, I want toshare New Zealand’s specialist knowledge and intellectual property in areaslike agriculture, food safety, health, education and fisheries on a commercialbasis.
As mentioned, I want to ensure that we are taking advantage of regionaleconomic integration through the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA as well asCPTPP and the newly minted RCEP Agreement.
New Zealand and Vietnam have also historically worked extremely well togetherin regional and multilateral forums, and I look forward to continuing thattradition, with New Zealand as this year’s Chair of APEC. We will be looking towork closely with Vietnam and other APEC members to ensure that we can buildback more resilient, sustainable and inclusive economies in our region./.
VNA
