NZ and Viet Nam Strengthen Cooperation in Defence, Trade, and Emerging Economies

Mr. Peters also met with New Zealand businesses operating in Viet Nam to explore the opportunities the country presents.

New Zealand and Viet Nam are set to enhance their cooperation across a range of areas, with a focus on seizing mutually beneficial opportunities, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters.

“Viet Nam matters enormously to New Zealand,” stated Mr. Peters. “Our countries enjoy broad cooperation in areas such as defence, security, trade, education, and tourism. We are looking forward to deepening this existing cooperation and expanding it into new areas such as oceans management and the green and digital economies.”

During meetings with Viet Nam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, and Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations Le Hoai Trung, Mr. Peters discussed advancing bilateral cooperation and addressing international security challenges in the Indo-Pacific, including the South China Sea situation.

“Enhanced air links between the two countries are vital to increasing people-to-people connections and trade, as well as boosting the tourism and education sectors. We have discussed initiatives to implement our civil aviation cooperation arrangement and improve our air services agreement,” Peters explained.

Mr. Peters also met with New Zealand businesses operating in Viet Nam to explore the opportunities the country presents. “Viet Nam, with its population of over 100 million people, is projected to be one of the fastest-growing global economies in the next 25 years. We are ideally positioned to grow our trading relationship. New Zealand is already one of Viet Nam’s largest suppliers of apples and dairy products. Both countries are working hard to achieve the two-way trade target of US$3 billion by 2026, as agreed by our Prime Ministers earlier this year.”

This visit builds on recent high-level engagements between Viet Nam and New Zealand, including the visit of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to New Zealand in March 2024.

Viet Nam is the first stop in a four-country tour of Southeast Asia, which will also include visits to Malaysia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste.

"The Coalition Government is seriously stepping up New Zealand's engagement with Southeast Asia, as reflected in the travel undertaken by the Prime Minister, myself, and other senior Ministers during the first half of 2024," Mr. Peters noted.