Vietnamese PM holds meeting with New Zealand counterpart

Vietnam and New Zealand on Wednesday announced they would elevate the bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership, a stronger tie to boost the cooperation on all fronts between the two countries.

Both countries said they had a solid base to accelerate trade and investment cooperation, which is a key component of a strategic partnership.

Vietnam and New Zealand's trade has doubled in the last five years.

Last year, bilateral trade in goods and services reached $1.3 billion (US dollars).

The trade turnover in the first half of 2020 has slightly dropped compared to last year due to the impacts of the new coronavirus, but it is picking up as the countries are resuming business.

Both Vietnam and New Zealand are members of the trans-pacific trade pact Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is expected to be signed later this year, and it is also an important factor for the increasing prospect of trade cooperation.

The two nations are among the countries less affected by the pandemic with relatively few cases.

"New Zealand and Vietnam can be proud of our fight against COVID-19, successfully curbing the spread of the virus to reopen the countries and resume our exchanges for cooperation and development," Phuc said.

During the online summit, the ministers also highlighted the countries' strong ties in other fields including defense, security, agriculture and education cooperation.