HCM City wishes to boost trade with New Zealand
VGP - Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan in Ho Chi Minh City on August 28 hosted a reception for Damien O’Connor – the NZ Minister of Agriculture, Biosecurity, Food Safety, and Rural Communities as well as State Minister for Trade and Export Growth.
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The guest believed that on the back of fine bilateral relations, the signing of free trade agreements and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will open up more markets for Vietnamese and NZ goods.
He hoped that Ho Chi Minh City will create favourable conditions for the two countries’ enterprises to reinforce joint work in education, tourism, and rural agriculture.
In turn, Nhan expressed his delight at the development of the Vietnam-NZ comprehensive partnership across a diverse range of areas, especially in economy, trade, culture, and education.
Both sides have exchanged regular visits and high-level meetings. Of note, the recent official visit to the country by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc created a driving force to further deepen bilateral links.
He said ties between Ho Chi Minh City and New Zealand are growing in a number of sectors, such as the NZ government’s assistance in training food safety personnel.
According to Nhan, HCM City is prioritising the development of high-tech agriculture, thus giving a chance to facilitate collaboration and technological transfer between the two sides.
The city leader hoped that NZ will offer assistance in farm produce processing, packaging, and trademark marketing to improve the value of products on the global supply chain.
In Ho Chi Minh City alone, New Zealand has invested in 18 projects worth nearly US$60 million. Imports-exports between the two sides have reached nearly US$359 million.
Currently, NZ is now Viet Nam’s 31st biggest trade partner, while Viet Nam is the 17th largest trade partner of NZ. Two-way trade surpassed US$900 million last year, over US$425 million of which was from Viet Nam’s exports, including farm produce, seafood, coffee, cashew nuts, computers, mobile phones, electronics, apparel, footwear, and construction materials.
By Vien Nhu
