ASEAN, New Zealand aim for comprehensive strategic partnership
ACW Chair and Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Phan Minh Giang reaffirmed ASEAN’s commitment to strengthening its relationship with New Zealand, noting that Vietnam, as coordinator for ASEAN–New Zealand ties from 2024 to 2027, will work closely with New Zealand and ASEAN countries to further deepen the partnership.
Delegates pose for a group photo at the ceremony (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) 💦– The ASEAN Committee in Wellington (ACW) on August 13 marked the association’s 58th anniversary with a ceremony in New Zealand’s capital, highlighting deepening ties and the goal of establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2025.
The event brought together ambassadors, high commissioners, diplomat staffs from ASEAN members with missions in Wellington — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — alongside observer Timor-Leste.
Senior New Zealand figures, including Minister for Ethnic Communities Mark Mitchell and Deputy Secretary – Americas and Asia Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Grahame Morton, also attended, among others.
In his opening remarks, ACW Chair and Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Phan Minh Giang emphasised the significance of this year’s event, which coincides with the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN Community, the 50th anniversary of ASEAN–New Zealand dialogue relations and Vietnam’s 30th year in ASEAN.
He underlined the bloc’s role as a successful model of regional cooperation, as well as the need to preserve its unity and promote its centrality amid global uncertainties.
Ambassador Giang reaffirmed ASEAN’s commitment to strengthening its relationship with New Zealand, noting that Vietnam, as coordinator for ASEAN–New Zealand ties from 2024 to 2027, will work closely with New Zealand and ASEAN countries to further deepen the partnership, delivering more tangible benefits to the people, and making more effective contributions to peace, stability, and sustainable and prosperous development for both sides and the wider region.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, in a recorded message, congratulated ASEAN on the 58th anniversary and reiterated his country’s dedication to building a secure, stable and prosperous shared future.
Mitchell expressed hopes for elevating bilateral ties in 2025, while Morton affirmed that New Zealand always attaches importance to its ties with ASEAN – one of its oldest and most significant partnerships. The official highlighted ASEAN’s importance as the world’s third most populous region and the fifth-largest economy globally.
On this occasion, Morton reaffirmed New Zealand’s desire to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with ASEAN at the ASEAN–New Zealand Commemorative Summit this October, stressing the country’s commitment to working closely with ASEAN to make greater contributions to regional peace and prosperity.
The celebration also featured traditional cultural performances and cuisine from ASEAN member states./.
Deputy PM and FM Bui Thanh Son, on behalf of ASEAN countries, commended the strong and substantive growth in the ASEAN-New Zealand partnership over the past 50 years and supported elevating it to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership this year.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has reiterated Vietnam’s readiness to share its experience in reforming and restructuring State-owned enterprises (SOEs) with Laos, including legal frameworks, management processes, and approaches to capital mobilisation and investment management.
Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc reiterated Vietnam’s readiness to share its experience fully and support Laos in SOE reform, while also expressing a desire to learn from Laos’ valuable insights.
The outcomes of the state visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) by Party General Secretary To Lam and his spouse from August 10-13 are reflected in five major aspects, ranging from political trust and multifaceted cooperation to social foundations and multilateral engagement.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the programme must focus on steadily improving the material and spiritual well-being of ethnic minority and mountain communities, with each year’s progress surpassing the previous.
Party General Secretary To Lam and his spouse Ngo Phuong Ly, accompanied by a high-level Vietnamese delegation, left Busan for Hanoi on August 13, concluding their four-day state visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) at the invitation of Korean President Lee Jae Myung and his spouse.
At the local level, successive leaders of HCM City have paid due attention to fostering Vietnam–India friendship. Under their guidance and support, people-to-people exchanges between the two countries in the city have flourished across trade, tourism, culture, and education. Such activities have deepened ties and mutual understanding while bringing tangible benefits to the people of both nations.
In the context of the robust development of bilateral ties, the establishment of the Consulate General of Vietnam in Busan is vivid evidence of the deepening linkages between the two nations, serving as a solid bridge to expand locality-to-locality cooperation in various fields such as economy, culture, and people-to-people exchanges.
The diplomatic sector has always upheld its role as one of the three key pillars in the cause of national construction and defence, taking the lead in implementing the motto of “using the invariables to cope with the variables" in asserting and safeguarding the sacred sovereignty of the nation.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, on behalf of the Government and people of Vietnam, extended congratulations to the government and people of Singapore, highlighting Singapore as a source of aspiration for many nations, including Vietnam, and a model of innovation, and smart government building.
President of the VFF Central Committee Do Van Chien highlighted the fruitful ties between the VFF Central Committee and the LFNC Central Committee for the effective implementation of the bilateral cooperaetion agreement and the tripartite memorandum of understanding among the fronts of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Busan will continue to work closely with Ho Chi Minh City and other Vietnamese localities to promote substantive collaboration in areas where the two sides boast complementary strengths, contributing to concretising the agreements reached by high-ranking leaders of both sides, said Busan Mayor Park Hyeong Joon.
Party General Secretary To Lam acknowledged the rapid progress of the Vietnam–RoK partnership in recent years, especially in economics, thanks to the support of both countries, their citizens, and business leaders like former Honorary Consul General of Vietnam in the RoK Park Soo Kwan.
The Government leader called for a people-centred and comprehensive approach involving the full political system, with more decentralisation and delegation of power, as long as stronger implementation capacity, enhanced inspections, perfected institutional frameworks, and targeted resource allocation.
Hugh Jeffrey, Deputy Secretary of Strategy, Policy, and Industry at the Australian Department of Defence, highly valued Vietnam's increasingly active role in peacekeeping missions and expressed confidence in the growing, practical, and deeper cooperation between the two countries.
The visit marks the Vietnamese Party General Secretary’s first state visit to the RoK in his new role. The RoK’s invitation to him as the first “state guest” under its new administration signals the high priority it places on the relationship with Vietnam and its Party chief personally.
Party General Secretary To Lam suggested both sides effectively implement existing parliamentary cooperation agreements and strengthen exchanges between the two legislatures. He laid stress on the bridge-building role of friendship parliamentarian groups in each country.
Under the draft revised rules, the NA and People’s Councils will no longer directly establish thematic supervision missions. Instead, the NA will select annual supervision themes and assign their implementation to the NA Standing Committee or specialised committees, which will then report findings for parliamentary discussion and resolution.
