Around 60 per cent of New Zealand’s trade to Southeast Asia heads to Vietnam. In keeping relations strong, Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently visited New Zealand to discuss increasing cooperation.
“Exports and imports between Viet Nam and New Zealand grew by more than a third in the last year alone,” said New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern.
Vietnam News reported that two-way trade has been growing 15-20 per cent annually over the past five years. The signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last Thursday is also expected to help deepen the relations between the two countries.
Vietnam and New Zealand are also participating in negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Fruit comprises a significant portion of agricultural trade between the two countries. For New Zealand, over half of the product sent to Vietnam is comprised of agricultural goods.
Two-way trade reached 1.2 billion in 2017, and is expected to grow to 1.7 billion by 2020. During the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s visit, a business forum will be held in Auckland. Vietnamese ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Viet Dung said that many big corporations from the two countries have already registered interest.
