Vietnam and New Zealand Move towards Strategic Partnership

Wellington_ Prime Ministers from Viet Nam and New Zealand, Nguyen Xuan Phuc Jacinda Ardern respectively, held official talks in Auckland, the most populous city and economic capital of the ocean nation, Prensa Latina reports.

The two heads of government addressed a wide range of issues, but with an emphasis on business-trade and investment-for being the basis on which to establish a comprehensive partnership whose successful evolution is about to turn it into a strategic partnership.

One, if not the main objective of the visit of Xuan Phuc to New Zealand, is precisely to sign with Ardern a treaty that brings bilateral relations to such a level.

At the shadow of this more auspicious status and of a shared membership in the recently signed Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP), the two countries aspire to have their trade exchanges amount to two billion dollars by 2020.

It is expected that this Tuesday both dignitaries will witness the signing of trade and cooperation agreements.

Another of the actions carried out today by Xuan Phuc in favor of joint ventures was to participate in the Vietnam-New Zealand Business Forum, also in Auckland.

The dignitary explained to the representatives of the New Zealand business community the most interesting angles of his government's policies regarding the improvement of the business environment and the investment of capital in the Indochinese nation.

He invited them to benefit from these circumstances and from others such as the belonging of both countries to regional free trade agreements and the emerging Integral and Progressive Agreement of Trans-Pacific Partnership.

On the occasion, Xuan Phuc witnessed the signing of two cooperation agreements in agriculture and education, by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Vietnam and the Business Council of New Zealand.

Before, he met with Auckland authorities and visited the Technology University of the city.

The Vietnamese president will be in New Zealand until tomorrow, when he will fly to Australia to respond to an invitation from his partner Malcolm Turnbull and participate in a special summit between that country and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.