Vietnamese, New Zealand Prime Ministers hold phone conversation
VGP - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Thursday had a phone conversation with his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh holds a phone conversation with his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon, Ha Noi, April 10, 2025 - Photo: VGP
Pham expressed his pleasure at the outcomes of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's official visit to Viet Nam in recent February, particularly the Joint Statement on elevating bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
He suggested both sides work together to develop an action plan on the implementation of the new partnership framework, thereby helping to realize reached commitments and agreements, as well as the contents of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Pham shared Viet Nam's recent efforts in engaging with the U.S. regarding the issue of reciprocal tariffs, including a phone call between General Secretary To Lam and U.S. President Donald Trump on April 4, as well as various measures to promote the two-way trade with the U.S.
He also highlighted Viet Nam's initiatives to support businesses in adapting to the situation, such as offering preferential interest rates, credit support packages, tax and fee reductions, and cuts of administrative costs.
In the face of fluctuations in the international economic and trade landscape, Viet Nam remains calm and stands ready to proactively adapt to any circumstances, noted the Vietnamese leader.
Viet Nam's principled stance is to persistently and proactively engage in dialogue and cooperation with the U.S. and other partners to address challenges and obstacles in a spirit of balanced interests and shared risks, while avoiding confrontation and preventing further complications, shared Pham.
It is an opportunity for Viet Nam to accelerate economic restructuring, speed up green and digital transformation, seek new growth drivers, and further diversify potential export markets, emphasized the Vietnamese Government chief.
He hailed the recent positive developments, including President Donald Trump's announcement to temporarily suspend the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on multiple trading partners for 90 days.
Viet Nam will continue to actively coordinate with relevant U.S. agencies to work towards a trade cooperation framework that ensures balanced interests for both sides and safeguards the legitimate interests of people and businesses of both countries, stated Pham.
He called on countries to promote dialogue and mutual understanding, while fostering stronger ties within multilateral economic frameworks.
Pham urged Viet Nam and New Zealand to enhance information sharing, cooperation, and close coordination within trade frameworks to which both countries are signatories, including the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
He also called for further strengthening of bilateral trade and investment cooperation under the spirit of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and diversifying each side's export and import goods, with a view to reaching a bilateral trade target of US$3 billion by 2026.
Luxon, for his side, said Viet Nam and New Zealand share common interests in ensuring an uninterrupted international trading system and supply chains, which are essential for stable growth and prosperity both nationally and globally.
He highlighted the need to step up cooperation between the two countries, both bilaterally and within multilateral cooperation frameworks in the time ahead.
The two leaders pledged to continue promoting ASEAN's central role in regional issues and support the maintenance of the positive momentum in ASEAN–U.S. relations, contributing to the preservation of an open, inclusive, fair, and rules-based multilateral trading system./.
