Vietnam and New Zealand will develop their comprehensive partnership both in scale and in depth toward a strategic partnership, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his New Zealand counterpart John Key agreed on November 15 in Hanoi.
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| Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (right) receives Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key on November 15 in Hanoi__Photo: Duc Tam/VNA |
They reached consensus on giving priority to strengthening political ties, increasing the exchange of delegations at all levels, and optimizing the operation of bilateral mechanisms for cooperation in all aspects.
Noting the strong development of friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the past four decades, the leaders stressed the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation mechanisms in economy, trade and investment, national defense and security, education and training, and science and technology.
The two sides agreed to encourage their businesses to make use of opportunities offered by free trade agreements and establish a new trade partnership mechanism at the governmental level with a view to bringing the two-way trade value to USD 1.7 billion by 2020 from USD 800 million in 2014.
Vietnam and New Zealand will also foster collaboration in other areas like agriculture, farm produce processing, animal husbandry, healthcare, aviation, services, and education.
The two sides also discussed measures to boost their partnership in national defense and security, including increasing the exchange of delegations and sharing of information and experience in search and rescue operations and United Nations (UN) peace-keeping missions.
New Zealand pledged to continue providing development assistance for Vietnam, particularly in agriculture, knowledge and skills and disaster risk management.
Particularly, John Key showed his support for Vietnam's candidacy for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for the 2020-21 tenure.
Following their talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements in civil aviation and health care and a plan on strategic cooperation in education.- (VNS/VLLF)
