Those in attendance at the signing ceremony included the New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam, the Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand, along with representatives from each countries’ respective foreign ministries.
Upon addressing the ceremony, Minister Bui Thanh Son expressed his firm belief that the Vietnam - New Zealand Action Program will contribute to further promoting the strategic partnership across multiple fields in the near future.
Minister Son displayed his elation at the fact that the two sides have been able to steadily maintain co-operation mechanisms in the fields of politics, defence, agriculture, and health care over the past year amid ongoing complicated developments linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Vietnamese diplomat used the occasion to congratulate New Zealand on successfully organising the APEC Summit Week as a means of contributing to raising its role and position within the international arena.
In response, New Zealand Foreign Minister underscored the importance of the strategic partnership with the Vietnamese side, before going on to share the complicated situation relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Southeast Asian nation and expressing willingness to co-operate in economic recovery efforts.
He therefore hailed the close co-ordination between the two countries’ agencies in completing the Action Program and stated a desire to further step up co-operation in fields such as trade - investment, education, the digital economy, and climate change adaptation.
Most notably, both countries are striving to hit US$2 billion in trade turnover by 2024.
With regard to co-operation at regional and international forums, the NZ diplomat thanked the nation for its strong support of New Zealand as it assumes the chair of APEC 2021.
He went on to emphasise that New Zealand is one of ASEAN's oldest dialogue partners and shares its views with Vietnam on a peaceful, stable, inclusive, and international law-abiding Indo-Pacific region, with ASEAN playing a central role in this.
As part of the occasion, Minister Son invited his New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta to visit the country at an appropriate time, with his invitation being graciously accepted.
