Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue arrived in Wellington capital city on July 26, starting his three-day official visit to New Zealand at the invitation of his counterpart Paula Bennett.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue (L) and New Zealand Finance Minister Steven Joyce

During a working session with New Zealand Finance Minister Steven Joyce in the afternoon, Hue said Vietnam is accelerating economic restructuring, including in credit organisations, commercial banks and State-owned enterprises, adding that the country is also working to refine market economy mechanisms, improve competitiveness and business climate. 

He asked New Zealand to share experience and encourage its enterprises to join the restructuring process in the country. 

Hue highly valued development support that New Zealand has provided for Vietnam and asked for the early signing of a bilateral financial deal. 

Joyce, for his part, hailed Vietnam as a significant partner of New Zealand in ASEAN and spoke highly of Vietnam’s successful hosting of important events in its capacity as Chair of ASEAN 2017. 

He affirmed that New Zealand would assist Vietnam in the restructuring of finance-banking, bad debts, business equitisation and securities market, continue facilitating Vietnamese agro-fisheries’ access to the Pacific country’s distribution and supermarket chain. 

Both sides agreed to further enhance cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, investment, services, education-training, connectivity and information technology, towards raising two-way trade to 1.7 billion USD by 2020. 

Visiting the Vietnamese embassy in New Zealand, Hue said his visit is to further promote bilateral ties, particularly in trade, education and labour exchange, urge New Zealand to consider the future of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and prepare for the upcoming visits by both sides. 

According to Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Viet Dung, the Vietnamese community in New Zealand now counts more than 6,600, mostly in Auckland city.

VNA