New Zealand Parliament Speaker visits Dien Hong Hall, sees antiques

New Zealand Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee is on an official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man.

This morning, at the National Assembly House, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man chaired the welcoming ceremony and held talks with the Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament.

This is the first high-level visit after Vietnam and New Zealand upgraded their relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (February 2025).

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man welcomes New Zealand Parliament Chairman

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man highly appreciated the visit of New Zealand Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee. This is an important milestone, marking a new step forward in the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, especially in the field of parliamentary diplomacy .

Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament Gerry Brownlee congratulated Vietnam on the occasion of its 80th National Day, sharing his impression of the national pride of all Vietnamese people at this important moment for the country.

Although Vietnam and New Zealand are geographically distant, the two countries are increasingly getting closer through economic, cultural, educational links, similarities in ideas, visions and people-to-people exchanges. The two countries work together for the development and happiness of their people, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

National Assembly Chairman: "Vietnam wishes to make practical contributions to promoting ASEAN - New Zealand relations, including working towards establishing the ASEAN - New Zealand Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework"

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man assessed that Vietnam and New Zealand have achieved many remarkable achievements in economic and trade cooperation. As of July, two-way trade turnover between the two countries reached about 1.05 billion USD. Of which, Vietnam exported 580 million USD and imported 470 million USD from New Zealand, but this figure is still not commensurate with the potential for economic cooperation between the two countries.

National Assembly Chairman Gerry Brownlee emphasized the role of the two countries' National Assemblies in listening to people's opinions, thereby contributing to strengthening people-to-people exchanges and friendly relations between the two countries...

Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament Gerry Brownlee sincerely thanked the National Assembly and people of Vietnam for their warm, respectful and thoughtful welcome.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man suggested that the two sides continue to consolidate and tighten political relations through visits and contacts, exchange of delegations to learn from experiences between ministries, branches and localities of the two countries, and increase exchanges between Committees, Friendship Parliamentarians' Groups, and Young Parliamentarians' Groups of the two countries...

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man proposed that New Zealand support Vietnam in training and capacity building in participating in UN peacekeeping activities; the two sides take breakthrough measures to soon bring trade turnover to 3 billion USD by 2026, especially promoting the complementarity in goods of the two countries to boost the export of advantageous products; and make the most of the advantages from free trade agreements of which both countries are members.

The two National Assembly leaders agreed that the two sides need to continue to coordinate and support each other at regional and international forums, especially at the United Nations, ASEAN and ASEAN-led forums.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man presents souvenir to New Zealand Parliament Chairman

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasized that cooperation in green economy, digital economy and energy transition is New Zealand's strength. He highly appreciated New Zealand's initiative on the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability and said that Vietnam wishes to learn from New Zealand's experience in developing clean and high-tech agriculture...

Regarding cooperation between the two National Assemblies, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man suggested that the two National Assemblies support each other at multilateral parliamentary forums, share legislative and supervisory experiences, and enhance cooperation between the two support agencies.

Speaker of the National Assembly Gerry Brownlee said that in the context of current challenges in regional and global security, the two countries need to deepen bilateral relations. New Zealand is willing to consider increasing the import of Vietnamese products with strengths into the New Zealand market, thereby helping the two countries' trade grow and soon reach the target of 3 billion USD.

Then, this afternoon, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and New Zealand National Assembly Chairman visited Dien Hong Hall, the area displaying archaeological discoveries underground of the National Assembly House.

Speaker of New Zealand Parliament visits the Exhibition Area of ​​archaeological discoveries underground at Parliament House

The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament was introduced to the archaeological exhibition area with strong traces of the culture and architecture of ancient Thang Long. The exhibition area has about 400 relics and nearly 10 archaeological sites...

At Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man introduced the basic features of the meeting room and sessions of the Vietnamese National Assembly.

National Assembly deputies sit in the first floor hall with more than 500 seats, on the second floor there are more than 300 seats for guests and auditors. The seats of the deputies are rotated at each session to ensure that all deputies sit in different positions, ensuring fairness for National Assembly deputies.

The most solemn position in the hall is the area reserved for the meeting chair. This area is modernly equipped to serve the meeting management well.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and New Zealand Parliament Chairman visit Dien Hong Hall

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/chu-tich-quoc-hoi-new-zealand-tham-quan-hoi-truong-dien-hong-xem-co-vat-2437272.html