Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Foreign Affairs BuiThanh Son’s official visit to New Zealand from September 13-5 is a chance forthe nations to review their strategic partnership, and set out measures to beefup their multifaceted cooperation in line with regional and internationaldevelopments, Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Van Trung has said.

At the outset of the trip at the invitation of NewZealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta, Trung informed the pressthat it is Son’s first official visit to the nation and the first ministerialvisit by a Southeast Asian country to New Zealand since it opened the border onAugust 1.

On the occasion, the ministers will co-chair the firstface-to-face meeting of the annual foreign ministers' meeting (FMM) mechanismunder an action plan to implement the Vietnam-New Zealand strategic partnershipframework for 2021-2024.

The action plan was inked inDecember 2021, focusing on strategic links formation, economic integration, andpeople connection. As a result, a series of activities and meetings in thefields of agriculture, defence, diplomacy, trade-industry and cooperation amonglocalities have been organised since the beginning of 2022 despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Zealand’s official border reopening has allowed thesides to conduct delegation exchange activities in education, economy - trade andinvestment, judicial cooperation, information and communication, and tourism inthe last months of the year.

In addition, while in New Zealand, the Vietnamese FM andlocal officials will discuss the preparation for delegation exchange activitiesbetween senior leaders of the countries, Ambassador Trung noted.

According to the diplomat, the visit takes place in the contextthat both nations have opened their borders and are making efforts to reconnectwith the outside world after more than 2 years of dealing with the pandemic. They share the common interest of quick economic recovery anddevelopment, consolidating and diversifying international relations, given thefact that the political, security and economic environments in the world and Asia-Pacificare experiencing many changes this year.

Through the trip and associated meetings by Minister Sonwith senior leaders of New Zealand, Vietnam affirms its desire to strengthen anddeepen the strategic partnership to be commensurate with the nations’ highlevel of political trust and goodwill, said Trung.

He stated that Vietnam is also determined to cooperate moredeeply with New Zealand in accordance with the spirit of the agreement onestablishing their strategic partnership signed on July 22, 2020, on theoccasion of the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

Trung stressed New Zealand is one of Vietnam's importantpartners in trade and official development assistance.

According to Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa, New Zealand's officialdata agency, the countries’ two-way turnover in 2021 hit 2.2 billion NZD (1.34billion USD), an annual increase of 14.7%. The figure was 1.255 billion NZD inthe first half of 2022, up 20,8% year on year.

Notably, New Zealand freshly offered Vietnam an economicrecovery aid worth 2 million NZD. The two sides are working to tap newopportunities in development cooperation with a focus on their new priorityareas such as green growth, digital transformation, and digital economicdevelopment./.