Hanoi (VNA)🐟 – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon held a joint press conference on the results of their talks in Hanoi on February 26 afternoon, during which they announced the upgrade of the bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

PM Chinh once again welcomed PM Luxon on his official visit to Vietnam and his participation in the ASEAN Future Forum 2025, particularly as the two nations are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations, marking the beginning of a new chapter in bilateral ties. He said their meeting was open, candid, sincere, and built on mutual understanding. Both sides recognised that after more than five decades of diplomatic ties, 16 years as comprehensive partners, and five years as strategic partners, bilateral relationship has developed extensively and has been well-positioned for a new phase of growth. As a result, the two countries agreed to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership. According to Chinh, the new framework would strengthen political trust and deepen Vietnam-New Zealand cooperation, meeting the shared aspirations of both countries' people based on respecting international law, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and each other’s political systems. It would also make significant contributions to regional and global peace, stability, cooperation, and development. Under this new comprehensive strategic partnership, bilateral ties will see "five key enhancements" -stronger and more strategic political trust; more substantive cooperation in defence and security; closer and more effective economic, trade, and investment collaboration; the elevation of science, technology, and climate change cooperation as a new pillar of bilateral relations; and deeper people-to-people links through enhanced cooperation in human resources development, labour, and tourism. The two sides encouraged airlines from both countries to launch direct flights, as Vietjet has already done. PM Chinh said that both sides also agreed to boost coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, particularly the United Nations, ASEAN, and ASEAN-led mechanisms, as well as to promote dialogue, build trust among nations, and uphold ASEAN’s central role in shaping the evolving regional architecture.

🍒They reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, resolving disputes through peaceful measures on the basis of international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), enhancing maritime cooperation while striving to make the East Sea the waters of peace, stability, friendship, cooperation, and development.

PM Chinh emphasised that with the official upgrade of bilateral relations, Vietnam and New Zealand have entered a new chapter in their partnership. This enhanced cooperation framework will ensure more substantive, effective, and sustainable collaboration across various fields, meeting the aspirations and interests of both nations and contributing to regional and global peace, stability, cooperation, and development. The two governments are committed to effectively carrying out this new framework. He also affirmed that as the coordinator of ASEAN-New Zealand relations, Vietnam will continue working to strengthen bilateral ties and advocate for an upgraded ASEAN-New Zealand partnership for mutual benefit, peace, cooperation, and regional development. PM Luxon underlined New Zealand’s interest in deepening ties with Vietnam, while highlighting Vietnam’s strong development. He said bilateral trade has grown by 40% over the past five years, while hailing Vietnam as an attractive investment destination. Luxon also highlighted opportunities for further collaboration in agriculture, fisheries, renewable energy, maritime cooperation, education, defence, and security. He affirmed New Zealand’s commitment to strengthening its partnership with Vietnam, advancing defence and security dialogues, and preparing for a visit by a New Zealand naval ship to Vietnam later this year. He took the occasion to thank Vietnam for inviting him to the ASEAN Future Forum, viewing it as an opportunity to contribute ideas on fostering a resilient and prosperous ASEAN region while aligning priorities between New Zealand, Vietnam, and ASEAN. He noted that New Zealand’s ties with Vietnam and ASEAN have never been closer and expressed a strong desire to promote people-to-people exchanges as a crucial foundation for bilateral relations. He also highlighted plans to augment cooperation in education, tourism, and scholarships.

Luxon expressed his hope for continued collaboration with Chinh in realising the potential of the comprehensive strategic partnership.

🐻As part of the upgraded partnership, the two countries witnessed the signing of eight cooperation agreements, including a memorandum on climate change collaboration, an agreement on doctoral training for Vietnamese university lecturers, and a deal on digital transformation in healthcare. Notably, Vietjet announced a new fifth-freedom flight route between Vietnam and New Zealand, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare donated 10 high-flow oxygen devices to Bach Mai Hospital./.