Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam and New Zealand have seen strong developments inrelations since the establishment of ꧋diplomatic ties in June 1975, according toVietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Ta Van Thong.

NewZealand is one of Vietnam’s most important trade partners. Bilateral economicties have seen outstanding progress, he said on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the relations, since the two established their comprehensivepartnership in 2009 and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand free trade agreement wassigned in 2010. Hecited data from Statistics New Zealand that two-way trade reached 2.04 billionNZD (1.3 billion USD) in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent. NewZealand has implemented a range of activities to support Vietnam in fieldswhich it has strengths, such as agriculture, e-government, education, andnatural disaster prevention, the ambassador added. Theseventh meeting of the Vietnam-New Zealand joint committee on economic andtrade cooperation is slated for this year, which is an important mechanism forthe two sides to seek measures to further promote the partnership in fields of potentialsuch as trade, aviation services, tourism, and education and training. People-to-peopleand cultural exchanges, the ambassador said, are also priorities in bilateralrelations. NewZealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is to pay an official visit to Vietnamand attend the ASEAN-New Zealand Commemorative Summit in central Da Nang citythis year. Thetwo countries are expected to issue a joint statement during the visit on elevatingbilateral relations to a strategic partnership with a new action plan, Thongsaid. Basedon the bilateral friendship and mutual trust, the two countries have beenclosely coordinating at multilateral forums such as the UN, the APEC Forum, andthe WTO, as well as in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP), he noted. AsNew Zealand will be the APEC Chair in 2021, Vietnam is committed tostrengthening coordination with the country to ensure success, the diplomataffirmed./.