Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a welcome ceremony on February 26 afternoon for his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon who is paying an official visit to Vietnam and attending the 2nd ASEAN Future Forum (AFF).

This is the first official visit of PM Luxon to Vietnam since he was appointed as the Prime Minister. It takes place at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations (June 19, 1975 - 2025) and the relationship between the two countries is developing positively and effectively. The visit is expected to contribute to enhancing political trust, deepening the Strategic Partnership, and making the Vietnam-New Zealand bilateral relationship more practical and effective.

After the welcome ceremony, the two PMs visited a photo exhibition featuring Vietnam and New Zealand, their people and good relations jointly organised by the Government Office and the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

The visit comes at a crucial time when Vietnam-New Zealand cooperation is flourishing, backed by frequent high-level exchanges and various cooperation mechanisms and agreements. It offers an important opportunity for the two sides to look back on their friendship and Strategic Partnership so as to shape up future strategy for the relations.

The two countries have always maintained contacts and exchanges of high-level delegations and at all levels. Vietnam is currently New Zealand's 13th largest trading partner with two-way trade turnover in 2023 and 2024 reaching 1.3 billion USD. New Zealand is Vietnam's 41st largest trading partner. The two countries aim to reach a trade turnover of 3 billion USD by 2026.

As of February 2025, New Zealand had 55 investment projects with a total capital of 208 million USD, ranking 39th out of 149 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Vietnam had 12 investment projects in New Zealand with a total registered capital of 43.9 million USD, ranking 30th out of 80 countries and territories where Vietnam has invested.

New Zealand provides Vietnam with a stable and gradually increasing ODA year by year. The Vietnamese community living in New Zealand is about 14,000 people.

Within the multilateral framework, Vietnam and New Zealand have a close cooperative relationship and support each other at important international and regional organisations and forums. The two countries have jointly promoted cooperation under free trade agreements that both countries are signatories.

PM Luxon’s official visit to Vietnam this time is an opportunity for the two sides to review and promote cooperation in all fields, especially those where one side has needs, the other side has strengths such as green economy, digital transformation, digital economy, knowledge economy, circular economy, energy transition, agriculture, climate change response, education, labour, cultural exchanges, and people-to-people exchanges.

In particular, the two sides will consider upgrading Vietnam-New Zealand relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership./.