Hanoi (VNA) – A seminar marking the five decades of ASEAN-New Zealand partnership, along with related meetings to discuss future cooperation, took place in the central coastal city of Da Nang on April 8.

The event was chaired by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet, head of the Vietnamese delegation to the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM).

As the coordinating country for ASEAN-New Zealand dialogue relations for the 2024-2027 term, Vietnam hosted the seminar as a platform for both sides to review past achievements, assess the overall progress of cooperation, and propose strategic directions and concrete measures to elevate the partnership to new heights.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister Viet affirmed the long-standing and resilient ties between ASEAN and New Zealand, built on mutual trust, respect, and shared values of a peaceful, stable, and prosperous region. Over the past five decades, their relationship has expanded comprehensively and inclusively across multiple sectors under the four cooperation pillars of peace, prosperity, people, and planet.

Participants commended the ASEAN-New Zealand dialogue relations’ significant contributions to regional cooperation and development, particularly in security and defence, trade and investment facilitation, education, agriculture, disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance.

The seminar highlighted the vast potential for further collaboration, particularly in areas where the sides can complement each other. With a combined population of 700 million across both regions, economic cooperation was identified as a priority, with an emphasis on leveraging existing trade mechanisms such as the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to enhance market access and boost private sector investment.

Participants also stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation in green and digital transformation, sustainable development, smart agriculture, climate response, space technology, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, connectivity, and high-quality human resources training.

New Zealand representatives highlighted key areas where they seek to deepen collaboration with the bloc, including narrowing development gaps, climate change adaptation through technology, women’s agenda, peace, and security. Both sides agreed on the need to diversify cooperation mechanisms, develop long-term programmes and initiatives, and invest in capacity-building, knowledge sharing, and expertise exchange.

Later in the day, Deputy Minister Viet chaired the ASEAN and ASEAN-New Zealand coordinating meetings to prepare for the 32nd ASEAN-New Zealand senior officials' dialogue, scheduled for April 9./.