Việt Nam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung (right) and his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters signing the action programme for the 2025–2030 period in Hà Nội. VNA/VNS Photo An Đăng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung and his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters on Wednesday signed an action programme to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries for the 2025–2030 period.

The two ministers co-chaired the third Việt Nam–New Zealand Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Hà Nội the same day.

Peters also presented a note verbale, an informal diplomatic communication, announcing NZD3 million – up by NZD2 million from the earlier announcement – in aid from New Zealand to support Việt Nam's recovery efforts following recent floods and landslides.

At the meeting, both sides welcomed the deepening of bilateral relations since the upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in February.

They commended comprehensive and effective cooperation across various pillars, including politics, defence and security, maritime cooperation, economy, trade, investment, science and technology, agriculture, climate change response, education, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

The two ministers pledged to continue the momentum of the bilateral relationship, strengthen political trust, further promote high-level and inter-level exchanges and enhance the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation mechanisms while implementing the newly signed action programme.

While highlighting the complementarity of their economies, the two sides also made note of the remaining potential in economic, trade and investment cooperation.

They vowed to pursue stronger measures, aiming to achieve a bilateral trade turnover of US$3 billion by 2026, with emphasis on enhancing business connectivity and effectively implementing free trade agreements to which both countries are parties.

Trung expressed his hope that New Zealand businesses will step up investment in Việt Nam.

Peters thanked Việt Nam for opening its market to some New Zealand agricultural products and expressed the hope for continued facilitation of other exports.

On global and regional issues, the two ministers said that Việt Nam and New Zealand have a common vision of building a rules-based world and regional order, respecting the voices of small and medium-sized countries and promoting free trade, multilateralism and dialogue along with cooperation and connectivity.

Peters reaffirmed that New Zealand regards Southeast Asia as a priority in its foreign policy and supports ASEAN’s central role, asking that Việt Nam, as the coordinator of ASEAN–New Zealand relations, continue promoting the recently established ASEAN–New Zealand Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The New Zealand minister also congratulated Việt Nam on assuming the Chair of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Council in 2026 and pledged New Zealand’s support to help Việt Nam successfully fulfil its role.

Trung expressed the hope that New Zealand will continue its positive stance, support Việt Nam and ASEAN on regional strategic issues, including the East Sea (internationally known as South China Sea), and consider expanding cooperation with the Mekong subregion, particularly in climate change adaptation and sea level rise response. — VNS