Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that New Zealand’s government, businesses, and associations further promote economic, trade, and investment cooperation with Vietnam during a seminar with businesses from New Zealand in Wellington on March 11, the Government News has reported.

He emphasized that the Vietnamese Government listens to, accompanies, supports, and creates favorable conditions for foreign investors, including those from New Zealand, to conduct business effectively and sustainably in Vietnam.

The government also protects the legitimate rights and interests of investors, he said.

Prime Minister Chinh also asked for further market openings to maximize bilateral trade agreements, cooperative frameworks, and new-generation free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the ASEAN - Australia - New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), to which both countries are parties.

He called for the facilitation of access to goods in each other’s markets and that consideration be given over removing non-tariff barriers on Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural and aquatic products.

Local businesses expressed their interest in Vietnam’s investment attraction policies, particularly in infrastructure development.

They also presented their needs and capacity in the fields of education and training, science and technology, food, training, elderly care nursing, fighting climate change, green transportation, carbon emissions reductions, energy transition, and sustainable agriculture.