(VOVWORLD) - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his New Zealander counterpart Jacinda Ardern agreed to formally elevate the two countries’ comprehensive partnership to strategic partnership during their virtual summit on Wednesday.
 Vietnam, New Zealand release Joint Statement on Strategic Partnership |
In a joint statement released the same day, both sides agreed that the strategic partnership is aimed at further strengthening the overarching framework for engagement and cooperation between Viet Nam and New Zealand, for the benefits of the two peoples and for peace, stability and prosperity in each country, the region, and the world. The two Prime Ministers highlighted trade and investment cooperation as a key component of the strategic partnership for the direct benefit of the two countries' people and businesses.
The two countries committed to individual and joint actions to open markets and reduce barriers for bilateral trade, especially for agricultural, seafood, and timber products through enhancing market access, trade facilitation, information exchange, and collaboration between customs, and agriculture, food safety, and animal health agencies.
Both sides also pledged to further enhance bilateral agriculture cooperation, including through joint research, collaboration and action on climate change in agriculture and forestry, agri-tech, technical assistance on plant health laboratory accreditation, plant breeding, food safety management and electronic certification, trade in legal timber products, and commercialization of agriculture products.
Both reaffirm their commitment to closer defence cooperation as a priority in the Strategic Partnership, including through high-level defence visits, port calls, policy consultations, strategic dialogues, education and training, United Nations peacekeeping operations, intelligence exchanges, maritime security cooperation and enhanced coordination in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus forum. They underscore the significance of information sharing and strengthening cooperation on a range of bilateral, regional, and international issues such as pandemics, climate change, e-government, human rights, science and technology, and countering terrorism and violent extremism. In that light, both welcome the commencement of a regular Oceans Dialogue between officials.
Regarding East Sea issue, the two Prime Ministers reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, freedom of navigation and overflight, pursuing the peaceful resolution of disputes and respecting legal and diplomatic processes, in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).