AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc had a meeting with New Zealand’s Speaker of the House of Representatives Trevor Mallard on March 13, during which both leaders agreed that the two countries’ legislations should maintain traditional cooperation and close coordination at international and regional parliamentary forums. 

PM Phúc and Speaker Mallard expressed their delight at the development of Việt Nam – New Zealand relations in recent years, notably in two-way trade which is likely to hit US$1.7–2 billion in 2020. 
They agreed to soon upgrade the bilateral ties to the level of Strategic Partnership and held that the two nations must step up practical and specific measures to boost cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, tourism, aviation connectivity and people-to-people exchanges. 
The two leaders stressed the need for the two parliaments to increase the exchange of high-level visits and coordinate together in supervising the implementation of the two countries’ agreements. 
Mallard, who initiated the Việt Nam-New Zealand educational agreement, said that New Zealand wants to attract more Vietnamese students to study in areas of its strength like information technology, biotechnology and hospitality. 
He expressed his admiration for Việt Nam’s important achievements in socio-economic development and implementation of foreign policy in the recent past. 
The Speaker said he was pleased with the outcomes of the earlier talks between PM Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and his NZ counterpart Jacinda Ardern, believing that these positive results would lay an important foundation for bilateral relations to develop more strongly in the future. 
PM Phúc conveyed Chairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân’s invitation to Mallard to visit Việt Nam at a convenient time. Meanwhile, Mallard reiterated his invitation to Ngân to pay a visit to New Zealand soon. 
After the meeting, PM Phúc and his entourage attended a banquet hosted by Speaker Mallard.

New Zealand hails Việt Nam’s important role in signing of CPTPP

As the host of the APEC Year 2017, Việt Nam played an important role in promoting the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in Chile, said New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters. 

During his meeting with Vietnamese Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Bình Minh yesterday, as part of PM Nguyễn Xuân Phúc’s official visit to New Zealand, Peters spoke highly of Việt Nam’s leading role in the APEC Economic Leaders Week, saying that it brought positive results to the APEC progress as the region and the world are witnessing unfavourable conditions for trade liberalisation and economic connectivity. 
He highlighted the significance of PM Phúc’s ongoing visit to New Zealand and expressed his hope that the visit would help expand and elevate bilateral ties to new heights. 
For his part, Minh affirmed Việt Nam was ready to share experience and support New Zealand when the country hosts the APEC Year 2021. 
The two officials agreed to promote the implementation of the Action Plan for the 2017-2020 period, thus making contributions to deepening bilateral cooperation in various fields and creating a premise to upgrade Việt Nam-New Zealand ties to the level of strategic partnership. 
They expressed their pleasure at the close co-operation between the two foreign ministries and affirmed to boost collaboration in strategic issues, both bilaterally and multilaterally. In that spirit, they agreed to hold the 11th foreign ministerial-level political consultation in New Zealand soon. 
While discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, Peters said that he was interested in recent developments on the Korean peninsula and the East Sea, and affirmed his support for ASEAN and China in promoting negotiations on a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea. 

On this occasion, Deputy PM and Minh invited his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters to visit Việt Nam at a convenient time.  — VNS

VNS