Affirmed by Chairman of HCMC People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong in a courtesy meeting with Mr. Haike Manning, Ambassador of New Zealand in Vietnam on May 5.

At the reception, both sides affirmed Vietnam-New Zealand co-operation relation has continuously developed and deepened through frequent exchanges of high profile visits. Regarding to New Zealand-HCMC cooperation, both sides discussed and expressed their wishes to specify co-operation areas including investment, trade and education.

Mr. Phong welcomed the wooden pedestrian bridge project designed by New Zealand and will be soon carried out in HCMC in the coming time. This is a significant project and a symbol of Vietnam-New Zealand diplomatic relations.

Briefing socio-economic situation of HCMC, Mr. Phong said New Zealand has now 13 investment projects in HCMC with total investment capital of US$ 23 million; export value reached US$ 230 million in 2015. However, this figure is still not matched with available potential of both sides.

With opportunities from ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Mr. Phong said this is a big opportunity for Vietnam to upgrade strategic partnership with New Zealand. At locality level, HCMC focuses on establishing relation with Auckland (New Zealand) to promote cooperation programs, especially the launch of direct flight from HCMC to Auckland on June 4. This will open a new phase of HCMC-Auckland co-operation relations.

Commenting on investment environment of HCMC, Mr. Haike Manning said: “enterprises of New Zealand pay a special attention to potential investment environment in HCMC and highly value the city’s efforts to conduct policy reforms, to attract and call for investment. In addition, apart from fields of both sides’ interests, Mr. Haike Manning hoped to strengthen co-operation with HCMC in fields of New Zealand’s strength like new technology agriculture, food safety and aviation.

In the framework of the launch of direct flight between HCMC and Auckland, many cultural activities will be organized to strengthen cultural exchanging activities of both sides.
 

HCM CITYWEB