Vietnam and New Zealand on October 4 agreed to continue facilitating trade and investment between the two countries and providing broader access for agricultural products to each other’s market.

The agreement came at the sixth meeting of the Vietnam-New Zealand Joint Trade and Economic Commission (JTEC) in Hanoi. The event was chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh and Deputy Secretary for trade and economic affairs at New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Vangelis Vitalis.

Vietnam and New Zealand holds the sixth meeting of the Joint Trade and Economic Commission (JTEC) in Hanoi.

They agreed to reinforce cooperation in the fields of hi-tech agriculture, commercial farming, human resources training, tourism and e-Government, and to step up coordination in promotion of trade, investment and tourism.

Vietnam asked New Zealand to provide further support for its localities in developing value chains for fruits, pepper, coffee, cashew nut and others; and at the same time, developing brands and origin tracking systems for farm produce and transferring production technology in agriculture and aquaculture.

Vietnam also wants the partner to assist it in capacity building in agriculture, food safety management, aviation, response to disasters and climate change, and e-Government, and to provide English language training for governmental workforce.

New Zealand, for their part, discussed with Vietnam the possibility for enhanced cooperation in aviation services, tourism, and education. In addition, it proposed Vietnam to facilitate New Zealand’s investment in education and tourism and cooperation between the two countries in food safety.

The two sides later moved on to talk about several issues of multilateral cooperation. They agreed to continue working together and backing each other within the framework of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

The Vietnam – New Zealand JTEC was set up in 2006 to provide the necessary frameworks to address key issues, promote trade and commercial links, and explore and facilitate investment opportunities.

New Zealand has remained as one of Vietnam’s key trade partners for years. Vietnam is currently New Zealand’s 16th largest trade partner.

According to statistics by the General Department of Vietnam Customs, bilateral trade of goods and services between the two nations hit USD 1.2 billion last year, up 37 percent from 2016.

In the first nine months of 2018, the two-way trade amounted to USD 779 million, up 10.8 percent year on year. Of the figure, Vietnam’s exports totaled USD 357.8 million while its imports exceeded USD 421 million.

New Zealand now operates 32 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered investment of USD 102.8 million, mostly in the areas of manufacturing and processing, education, agriculture, forestry, fishery, construction, information and telecommunication, hospitality and food, arts and entertainment.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has eight projects in New Zealand, worth a total of more than USD 30 million, mainly in manufacturing and processing, retail and wholesale, automobile and motorcycle repair and maintenance, catering and agriculture./.

( VNF/VNA )