On the afternoon of February 26, at the Presidential Palace, President Luong Cuong received New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on the occasion of the Prime Minister's official visit to Vietnam and attendance at the second ASEAN Future Forum.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, President Luong Cuong welcomed Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for his first official visit to Vietnam as Prime Minister of New Zealand; emphasizing that the visit of the Prime Minister of Luxon has contributed to creating new momentum, bringing the relationship between the two countries to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, right on the occasion of the two countries celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1975 - 2025).
The President highly appreciated New Zealand as a trusted partner, actively cooperating and supporting Vietnam over the past half century. The President said that upgrading relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership opens a new phase of cooperation, bringing the bilateral relationship to a more comprehensive and extensive development, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
The New Zealand Prime Minister expressed his pleasure at meeting the President again after the meeting at the APEC Summit in November 2024 in Peru; sincerely thanked the warm welcome that the leaders of the Party, Government and people of Vietnam gave to the Prime Minister and the New Zealand delegation; expressed his impression of Vietnam's strong development in recent years and affirmed his desire to continuously strengthen cooperation with Vietnam.
The two leaders were pleased with the outstanding achievements in cooperation in many fields, especially education and training, agriculture, trade, culture, and people-to-people exchanges; agreed that upgrading relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is a starting point, in the coming time, both sides need to continue to concretize the contents of the new framework of relations through developing an Action Program with specific cooperation programs and measures in various fields.
The two leaders agreed to continue to strengthen political trust, increase visits and exchanges at high and all levels; deepen cooperation in national defense and security; increase information exchange, assess regional and world situations, and cooperate in responding to traditional and non-traditional security challenges.
President Luong Cuong thanked the New Zealand Government for increasing the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students by 56% and suggested that New Zealand continue to support Vietnam in technology transfer, training of experts, and high-quality human resources.
The two leaders agreed that Vietnam and New Zealand share common views and vision on regional and world issues. In the context of continued complex developments in the world and the region, the two countries need to continue to coordinate closely and support each other at regional and international forums, especially the United Nations, APEC, ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reaffirmed New Zealand's support and assistance to Vietnam as host country of APEC in 2027.
On this occasion, President Luong Cuong sent his condolences to Ms. Cindy Kiro, Governor of New Zealand, and invited Ms. Nguyen to visit Vietnam in the near future. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also conveyed the Prime Minister's invitation to visit New Zealand. The President happily accepted the invitation and suggested that the two sides reach a diplomatic solution.
