Deputy Minister of Justice Le Tien Chau (second, left) and New Zealand Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson (third, left) in Wellington (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in New Zealand)At a meetingwith Attorney-General of New Zealand Christopher Finlayson in Wellington on April24, Chau held that strengthening legal and judicial cooperation between the twocountries will contribute to deepening the bilateral comprehensive partnershiptowards a strategic partnership.
He notedthat since Vietnam and New Zealand set up their diplomatic ties in 1975, thetwo countries have enjoyed fruitful cooperation in various fields such aspolitics, security-defence, trade, education-training, agriculture andpeople-to-people connections.
Two-waytrade increased 150 percent since 2009 to 1.15 billion NZD (nearly 800 millionUSD) in 2016.
However,judicial and legal training collaboration have stayed limited, as Vietnam hasonly received scholarships from New Zealand through English language trainingprogrammes for public servants and senior leaders, he said.
SharingChau’s opinions, Finlayson stressed the need for stronger bilateral legal andjudicial ties, adding that cooperation activities in the field should startfrom legal training.
As bilateraltrade partnership is flourishing, the two countries should consider the signingof a legal assistance deal to build a coordination mechanism in settling tradedisputes in a rapid and effective manner, he said.
Speaking atthe event, Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Viet Dung affirmed that theVietnamese Embassy is ready to act as a bridge for the establishment andenhancement of legal and judicial partnership between the two countries’justiceministries, with priority given to collaboration programmes in personneltraining, including those between the Hanoi Law University and legal training institutesof New Zealand.
Asscheduled, the Vietnamese delegation is visiting Hamilton city on April 25 andwork with leaders of Waikato University, one of the leading universities in NewZealand.-VNA
VNA
