Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam and New Zealand on October 4 agreed to continue facilitatingtrade and investment between the two countries and providing broader access foragricultural products to each other’s market.

The agreementcame at the 6th meeting of the Vietnam – New Zealand Joint Trade andEconomic Commission (JTEC) in Hanoi. The event was chaired by Vietnamese DeputyMinister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh and Deputy Secretary for tradeand economic affairs at New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and TradeVangelis Vitalis.

The two sidesexchanged views about issues of mutual concerns and priorities for cooperationin economics and trade amid the unpredictable changes in regional and globaltrade.

They agreed toreinforce cooperation in the fields of hi-tech agriculture, commercial farming,human resources training, tourism and e-Government, and to step up coordinationin promotion of trade, investment and tourism.

Vietnam askedNew Zealand to provide further support for its localities in developing valuechains for fruits, pepper, coffee, cashew nut and others; and at the same time,developing brands and origin tracking systems for farm produce and transferringproduction technology in agriculture and aquaculture.

Vietnam alsowants the partner to assist it in capacity building in agriculture, food safetymanagement, aviation, response to disasters and climate change, ande-Government, and to provide English language training for governmentalworkforce.

New Zealand,for their part, discussed with Vietnam the possibility for enhanced cooperationin aviation services, tourism, and education. In addition, it proposed Vietnamto facilitate New Zealand’s investment in education and tourism and cooperationbetween the two countries in food safety.

The two sideslater moved on to talk about several issues of multilateral cooperation. Theyagreed to continue working together and backing each other within the frameworkof the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP),ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), and Asia-PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC).

TheVietnam – New Zealand JTEC was set up in 2006 to provide the necessaryframeworks to address key issues, promote trade and commercial links, andexplore and facilitate investment opportunities. 

New Zealand hasremained as one of Vietnam’s key trade partners for years. Vietnam is currentlyNew Zealand’s 16th largest trade partner.

According to statisticsby the General Department of Vietnam Customs, bilateral trade of goods andservices between the two nations hit 1.2 billion USD last year, up 37 percentfrom 2016.

In the firstnine months of 2018, the two-way trade amounted to 779 million USD, up 10.8percent year on year. Of the figure, Vietnam’s exports totalled 357.8 millionUSD while its imports exceeded 421 million USD.

New Zealand nowoperates 32 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered investmentof 102.8 million USD, mostly in the areas of manufacturing and processing,education, agriculture, forestry, fishery, construction, information andtelecommunication, hospitality and food, arts and entertainment.

Meanwhile, Vietnamhas eight projects in New Zealand, worth a total of more than 30 million USD,mainly in manufacturing and processing, retail and wholesale, automobile andmotorcycle repair and maintenance, catering and agriculture. –VNA