(VOVWORLD) -Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his wife and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation on Saturday afternoon arrived at Auckland airport for an official visit to New Zealand at the invitation of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
 Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife are welcomed at Auckland airport. Photo: VNA |
Earlier, PM Chinh attended the Special Summit commemorating 50 years of ASEAN-Australia relations and paid an official visit to Australia.
During the New Zealand visit, the Prime Minister will meet and hold talks with senior leaders of New Zealand, attend discussions and work with leaders of New Zealand's leading associations and businesses. He will also visit and work with New Zealand science, technology and education organizations and meet the Vietnamese community.
The two sides will discuss measures to further key and traditional areas of cooperation such as trade and investment, especially cooperation in labor, education-training, and agriculture.
After nearly 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations in 1975, Vietnam and New Zealand have been constantly developing their ties, which were upgraded to a Strategic Partnership in July 2020. Vietnam is currently New Zealand's 14th largest trading partner. Two-way trade value last year reached 1.3 billion USD.
By November last year, New Zealand had 52 investment projects with a total capital of 208.35 million USD, ranking 39th out of 143 countries and territories with foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam. The Vietnamese community in New Zealand has about 11,000 people, mainly living in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.