Auckland (VNA) – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President To Lam held talks with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Auckland on August 13, during which they agreed to further consolidate political trust, expand economic and trade cooperation and make effective use of shared free trade agreements.
Welcoming General Secretary and President Lam and the Vietnamese delegation, New Zealand PM Luxon said the visit marked an important milestone in strengthening bilateral ties after more than half a century. He affirmed Vietnam is an important partner of New Zealand and expressed his impression at the Southeast Asian country’s remarkable achievements, including its strong economic growth.
The top Vietnamese leader congratulated New Zealand on its important achievements in national development, affirming that Vietnam always attaches importance to its traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with New Zealand. He noted with satisfaction the significant progress in the bilateral ties, particularly the elevation of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2025.
On this occasion, he conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Le Minh Hung to PM Luxon.
The two leaders briefed each other on the development situation in their respective countries and spoke highly of the reliable political ties and strong bonds between the two peoples, which, they said, provide a foundation for the two countries to strengthen bilateral cooperation across areas for the benefit of both countries' people and for peace, stability and development in the region and the world.
They agreed to continue strengthening political trust and expanding all-level exchanges and meetings through Party, State, parliamentary and people-to-people channels, while making effective use of policy consultation mechanisms.
They also agreed to further promote defence and security cooperation in a more substantive and effective manner, particularly in maritime security, naval ship exchanges, cybersecurity and military medicine. They also reached consensus on studying the establishment of a direct communication mechanism or hotline for dealing with transnational crime, and accelerating negotiations towards establishing mechanisms and signing bilateral cooperation agreements.
General Secretary and President Lam proposed the two sides enhance coordination to review and effectively implement the Action Programme to implement the Vietnam-New Zealand Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for 2025-2030.
Regarding economic ties, the two leaders highlighted the complementary nature of the two economies and identified trade and investment as an important pillar with substantial room for growth, particularly in agricultural, aquatic and seafood products.
They agreed to expand economic and trade cooperation and make effective use of shared free trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), while promoting trade facilitation and market access for each side’s key agricultural products, and reducing technical barriers, and promoting exchanges on quality standards, quarantine, food safety and electronic certification.
PM Luxon affirmed that New Zealand will continue to strongly promote collaboration in trade and investment, creating favourable conditions for businesses from both countries to explore opportunities for cooperation and investment in each other’s markets. Appreciating the practical and effective support provided by the New Zealand Government to Vietnam over the years, particularly in agriculture and the environment, General Secretary and President Lam expressed his hope that the two sides will continue to work together to develop green, low-emission and climate-resilient agriculture, ensures food security and increases the added value of agricultural products, while building exemplary cooperation models regarding sustainable agriculture.
Sharing the two countries’ common development goals based on science, technology, innovation and digital transformation, PM Luxon spoke highly of Vietnam’s efforts to develop policies and implement solutions to apply artificial intelligence (AI) in protecting data sovereignty and national digital sovereignty. He affirmed that New Zealand will continue sharing experience in building a digital government, developing ecosystems supporting science and technology development, and establishing innovation and startups support centres.
The two sides agreed to make education, tourism, connectivity and people-to-people exchanges important drivers of bilateral relations. Accordingly, they will expand cooperation in training high-quality human resources with the qualifications, expertise and skills needed for the new period of development, while encouraging their airlines to open direct flights at an early date to narrow the geographical distance between the two countries and create more opportunities for people-to-people exchanges and new, more substantive and comprehensive cooperation.
Amid complex regional and global developments, the New Zealand PM spoke highly of Vietnam's role as coordinator of ASEAN-New Zealand relations and thanked the country for helping New Zealand upgrade its ties with ASEAN, an important multilateral mechanism in Southeast Asia, to a comprehensive strategic partnership. He affirmed his support for and commitment to assisting Vietnam during APEC Year 2027.
The two leaders affirmed that they will continue to strengthen cooperation on regional and international issues of mutual concern at multilateral forums, particularly the United Nations. They also reaffirmed the importance of upholding international law in the region and settling disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.
