Hanoi (VNA)🔜 – Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Gerry Brownlee will pay an official visit to Vietnam from August 27 – 31, aiming to build on the outcomes of recent high-level exchanges and advance cooperation in various areas, including trade, investment, defence-security, parliamentary affairs, education, agriculture, climate change response, people-to-people exchanges, and collaboration at international forums.

The visit, the first to Vietnam by Brownlee since he assumed office, takes place at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (June 19, 1975 – 2025). It is expected to consolidate political trust, deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and promote more practical and effective bilateral cooperation.

A 50-year partnership of growth

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1975, Vietnam and New Zealand have steadily strengthened their relationship, overcoming geographical distance to forge a long-term and stable partnership. The bilateral relationship has been upgraded to a Comprehensive Partnership in 2009, a Strategic Partnership in 2020, and most recently, a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in February 2025. This latest upgrade marks a historic step forward, underscoring both governments’ strong commitment to delivering tangible benefits to their people and businesses. The two sides have maintained regular high-level contacts, delegation exchanges, and bilateral cooperation mechanisms, while closely coordinating and supporting each other at major multilateral organisations and forums.

Trade, investment, and development ties flourish

Economic cooperation has continued to serve as a cornerstone of the bilateral relations. Vietnam is currently New Zealand’s 12th largest trading partner, with two-way trade reaching 1.3 billion USD in both 2023 and 2024, and 737.2 million USD in the first half of 2025. Both sides are working toward lifting the figure to 3 billion USD by 2026. Vietnam has mainly exported phones, electronics, seafood, cashew nuts, and footwear, while importing dairy products, fruits, timber, textiles and footwear materials, machinery, equipment, and steel from New Zealand. As of August 2025, New Zealand had invested in 57 projects in Vietnam with total capital of 208.6 million USD, focusing on real estate, education and training, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Notable projects include the 115-million-USD Aqua Riverside City in Dong Nai and the Binh Dinh–New Zealand Gold Co., Ltd. with 15 million USD. In return, Vietnam has invested in 12 projects in New Zealand worth 44 million USD in fields such as manufacturing, accommodation, wholesale-retail, agriculture, and trade. New Zealand has also remained a reliable development partner, pledging 26.7 million NZD (15.6 million USD) in non-refundable aid for the 2021–2024 period, with a focus on agricultural quality improvement, drought-resistant rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta, and dam safety. Both countries are further expanding cooperation into new fields, including green, digital, and circular economy, energy transition, and climate action. Education has been another highlight of the bilateral ties, with more Vietnamese students choosing New Zealand thanks to its high-quality programmes and scholarship opportunities. New Zealand has also supported Vietnam in training specialists, managers, researchers, and skilled workers, and has provided English-language training to Vietnamese officials since 1992. Nearly 100 scholarships are offered annually to Vietnamese students at secondary, tertiary, and postgraduate levels.

Advancing inter-parliamentary relations

Parliamentary ties between Vietnam and New Zealand have developed both in scope and depth. A cooperation agreement signed in December 2016 has provided a solid legal basis for exchanges, complemented by regular high-level visits and interactions between committees and parliamentary friendship groups. The 15th National Assembly of Vietnam has established the Vietnam – New Zealand Parliamentary Friendship Group. The two parliaments have also coordinated closely at major inter-parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), and the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF). Brownlee’s visit is expected to further strengthen parliamentary diplomacy, foster experience-sharing in legislation and supervision, and expand exchanges between committees and friendship groups. Both sides will also seek to diversify cooperation, including through exchanges among women and young parliamentarians, while maintaining close coordination at multilateral forums such as AIPA, IPU, and APPF./.