Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (left) shakes hand with Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament Gerry Brownlee during their meeting in Wellington on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

WELLINGTON — Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính met with Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament Gerry Brownlee in Wellington on Monday afternoon (local time) as part of his official visit to the South Pacific nation.

Congratulating Brownlee on being elected Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament, PM Chính expressed his belief that the country would become increasingly prosperous and secure a growing stature in the region and the world, with the New Zealand Parliament playing an important role.

Speaker Brownlee voiced his delight at the progress of the friendship and cooperation in various areas between the two countries.

Both host and guest agreed to exert joint efforts to make new breakthroughs in labour and education - training cooperation.

Speaker Brownlee pledged to promote the granting of long-term visas for Vietnamese citizens. He highly valued the Vietnamese community’s considerable contributions to New Zealand and the bilateral relations. He also agreed to increase people-to-people exchanges and cultural cooperation to help strengthen the friendship and bonds between the two nations' people.

PM Chính suggested the two sides continue increasing mutual visits, especially those at the high level; create conditions for their specialty fruits, including banana and passion fruits of Việt Nam and kiwi and cherry of New Zealand, to enter each other’s markets; foster navigation and aviation connectivity; and step up cultural ties and people-to-people interactions.

Meanwhile, the two countries’ legislative bodies should continue bringing into play their roles in further strengthening the Việt Nam-New Zealand Strategic Partnership; share experience in resolving national issues, building law-governed states, and exercising supreme supervision; create legal frameworks to assist their respective governments; and work together to promote the implementation of the signed cooperation agreements, he recommended.

The two leaders agreed to facilitate experience exchanges between the parliament's committees, parliamentary friendship groups, female parliamentarians, and young parliamentarians in not only traditional fields but also new ones such as climate change response, just energy transition, digital transformation, and digital economy.

At the meeting, they also touched upon some regional and international issues of shared concern. They agreed that Việt Nam and New Zealand will support each other at international organisations, including the United Nations, ASEAN-led mechanisms, and multilateral parliamentary forums. — VNS