New Zealand Parliament Speaker visits Vietnam: Adding impetus to promote bilateral relations commensurate with new stature

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Anh Tuan welcomed New Zealand Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee at Noi Bai International Airport on August 27. (Source: VNA)

Could you please tell us the significance of this visit by the Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament to Vietnam, just 6 months after the official visit of New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, in which the two countries agreed to announce the upgrading of bilateral relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in February 2025?

At the invitation of Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tran Thanh Man , Chairman of the New Zealand Parliament Gerry Brownlee paid an official visit to Vietnam from August 27-31.

The visit is of great significance, taking place right in 2025 when Vietnam and New Zealand are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (1975-2025) with many meaningful commemorative activities, and in the context of the Vietnam-New Zealand relationship having just been upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, continuing to develop strongly and comprehensively in all areas of cooperation, based on high political trust and increasingly consolidated strategic trust between the two countries.

Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Phan Minh Giang. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in New Zealand)

On the basis of the currently excellent development of the bilateral relationship, the official visit to Vietnam by the Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament will further deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries, especially between the legislative bodies of the two countries, adding strong impetus to promote the Vietnam-New Zealand relationship to develop commensurately with its new stature, bringing more practical benefits and better meeting the aspirations of the people and businesses of the two countries.

Could you please assess the prospects of cooperation between the two countries as well as the key areas that Vietnam and New Zealand need to coordinate to promote in order to further develop bilateral relations in the coming time?

It can be said that the Vietnam-New Zealand relationship is currently entering its strongest development phase ever. As each other's leading important partners in the region, the two countries Together we share the determination and desire to fully exploit and effectively utilize existing advantages and potentials, in order to bring bilateral relations to new steps forward in the coming time, reaching new heights of development in the new era of cooperation .

Currently, Vietnam and New Zealand are urgently coordinating to complete the development of an action program to concretize the contents of the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries with practical and effective cooperation measures and projects.

In the coming time, Vietnam and New Zealand will continue to deepen political relations, promote more substantive defense and security cooperation, increase delegation exchanges and contacts at high and all levels through various channels, further enhance the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, as well as strengthen coordination and support each other more strongly at multilateral forums such as relevant mechanisms chaired by ASEAN, the United Nations and other forums.

Aiming for a bilateral trade turnover of 3 billion USD by 2026, the two countries will strengthen coordination to effectively exploit the complementary strengths of the two economies, promote closer economic ties, and more effective trade and investment cooperation. At the same time, efforts to strengthen cooperation in education, training and human resource development continue to be an important pillar of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, as well as expand cooperation in potential areas such as the application of science and technology, providing solutions in environmental protection, green transformation, high-tech agriculture, renewable energy development, climate change response, etc.

In addition, opening more flights between Vietnam and New Zealand will certainly contribute to facilitating and promoting economic, investment, educational, cultural, tourism and people-to-people cooperation, connecting the two countries more closely.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son met with New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters within the framework of the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM 58) in Malaysia, July 2025. (Photo: Quang Hoa)

According to the Ambassador, in the coming time, what should the Vietnamese National Assembly and the New Zealand National Assembly do to jointly promote the concretization of the newly established Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework?

Cooperation between the legislative bodies of Vietnam and New Zealand plays an important role in the overall bilateral relationship, contributing to the effective implementation of the Vietnam-New Zealand Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, creating favorable conditions for promoting strong socio-economic development in each country, meeting the aspirations of the people of the two countries and actively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in each country, in the region and in the world.

In the coming time, the National Assembly of Vietnam and the National Assembly of New Zealand will increase the exchange of delegations at all levels, promote cooperation between committees, specialized agencies of the National Assembly and Parliamentary Groups of the two countries. Thereby, the two sides will establish and strengthen mechanisms for information exchange, sharing experiences in organizing parliamentary activities, legislative work, as well as research to promote cooperation in training, fostering officials, improving capacity for law-making, and monitoring the implementation of policies and laws. Recent exchange activities between the two countries' parliaments, such as the National Assembly delegation led by Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh (September 2024) and the National Assembly delegation led by Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for National Defense, Security and Foreign Affairs Le Tan Toi (August 2025), visiting and working in New Zealand, as well as the current official visit to Vietnam (August 2025) by Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament Gerry Brownlee, have been actively contributing to these efforts.

At the same time, the two sides will continue to closely coordinate and support each other at regional and international multilateral inter-parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AIPA) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), etc.

Thank you very much Ambassador!

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/chu-tich-quoc-hoi-new-zealand-tham-viet-nam-tiep-xung-luc-thuc-day-quan-he-song-phuong-tuong-xung-voi-tam-voc-moi-325872.html