Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Winston Peters have agreed to foster coordination between the two foreign ministries so as to strengthen cooperation between the two nations.

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son holds phone talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for                    Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Winston Peters. (Photo: Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

In their phone talks on January 24, the officials rejoiced at the fruitful, intensive and extensive development of the Vietnam-New Zealand strategic partnership over the past time, and consented to expand high-level delegation exchanges and contacts, and effectively implement the action plan materialising the strategic partnership for 2021-2024, and soon negotiate and sign another plan for the new period.

The two sides will also enhance cooperation in trade and investment, optimise the efficiency of the Joint Committee for Economic and Trade Cooperation, and step up people-to-people exchanges through collaboration in education, labour and tourism.

They will closely coordinate to prepare for the upcoming visits by the two countries’ leaders, helping to boost the bilateral relations in the new period.

Peters affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner of New Zealand in the region in terms of both geo-politics and economy, noting the two countries share many viewpoints on regional and international issues.

He suggested the two countries expand cooperation in new areas such as climate change response and digital transformation.

The two sides also concurred to forge coordination and cooperation at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN-led mechanisms.

For his part, Son pledged that as the coordinator for the ASEAN - New Zealand relations, Vietnam will work to promote practical cooperation programmes between the two sides.

On this occasion, Son invited Peters to soon pay a visit to Vietnam.

(Source: VNA)