Mr Trong welcomed NZ Parliament Speaker Lockwood Smith’s visit to Hanoi on April 15 as a vivid manifestation of the good relationship between the two countries.
He briefed his guest on Vietnam’s socio-economic development in recent times, saying despite the negative effects of the global economic crisis, Vietnam has still made important achievements which have been acknowledged by the international community.
The National Assembly, government and people of Vietnam will do their utmost to bring Vietnam-New Zealand ties to new heights, especially in trade and investment, said Mr Trong.
He reiterated Vietnam’s foreign policy of openness, independence and self-reliance as well as multilateralisation and diversification of external relations for the sake of peace, cooperation and development.
He proposed that New Zealand, in its capacity as an observer of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, continue to work closely with the Vietnam National Assembly, especially when the latter will assume AIPA presidency in 2010.
He told his guest that two-way trade has increased modestly from US$187 million in 2001 to more than US$313 million last year. NZ investors also poured more than US$50 million into 14 projects in Vietnam. In 2008, the NZ government decided to increase its official development assistance (ODA) capital to NZ$10 million to Vietnam.
For his part, Speaker Smith shared Mr Trong’s view that cooperative ties between the two legislative bodies have developed strongly through the exchange of high-level and committee-level visits. He said the two bodies should increase visit exchanges to share experience in legislation and operation.
New Zealand is willing to increase cooperation with Vietnam in its strong areas such as trade, investment, education, science-technology, agriculture and aviation, said Speaker Smith.
He said the NZ parliament will introduce policies to help balance bilateral trade and encourage its businesses to invest in Vietnam. He also encouraged more Vietnamese students to study in his country and proposed stronger links between the two countries’ universities.
During their talks, the NZ parliament speaker voiced his support for Vietnam in regional and international forums such as the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) and the Francophonie Parliamentary Assembly as well as the United Nations.
In the evening, Mr Trong gave a banquet in honour of speaker Smith and his entourage.
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