VietNamNet- Vietnam attaches great importance to its friendship and multi-faceted co-operation with New Zealand, President Tran Duc Luong has said.

Speaking at a reception visiting New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Phil Goff in Hanoi yesterday (July 5), President Luong said he was delighted at the development of bilateral friendship and co-operation in politics, economy, trade, education, education and training in the past few years.

He reminded the foreign ministries of the two countries to organise celebrations to mark 30 years of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and New Zealand next year.

Hoping co-operation in different areas would be furthered in the time to come, President Luong thanked New Zealand for assisting Vietnam in fields such as human development, rural development, health care and education.

He requested New Zealand to continue granting scholarships to Vietnamese for English training and university education and encourage co-operation in training between universities.

The two sides should support each other both in bilateral forums as well as within the framework of the ASEAN-New Zealand dialogue regional forums, President Luong said.

Welcoming Minister Phil Goff's visit, he said it contributed to the development of ties between the two countries, especially in trade.

Minister Phil Goff said high-ranking diplomatic and commercial visits between the two sides in the past few years were testimony to the increasingly close friendship and co-operation between the two countries despite the geographic distance between them.

Meets PM Khai

Also yesterday, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai received Minister Phil Goff and his entourage.

The PM said the two sides needed to bolster economic and trade ties further to match the potential and for the practical interests of people in both countries.

In the context of Vietnam's preparations for regional and global integration, PM Khai said he hoped that the New Zealand Government would continue to support Vietnam in the sphere of training, while encouraging its businesses to invest in and import from Vietnam.

Assuring PM Khai that New Zealand would back Vietnam's efforts to join the World Trade Organisation; Minister Phil Goff said his country wanted to establish a free trade area with Vietnam and other ASEAN countries.

VN, a regional partner

During another meeting yesterday, Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien told Minister Phil Goff that Vietnam attached great importance to developing friendly relations with New Zealand, especially in the areas of economy, trade and development.

Minister Phil Goff said the New Zealand Government attached importance to developing its relations with Vietnam.

He said New Zealand considered Vietnam an important partner in the region and promised to support its development and integration efforts.

The two ministers agreed it necessary to weak out the activities for commemorating 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

They said they were pleased that co-operation in culture and education was developing rapidly.

The two sides needed to strengthen the exchange of visits at different levels while continuously maintaining a dialogue on matters of mutual interest to further strengthen understanding, they agreed.

The two countries should also speed up the implementation of agreements relating to economy, trade and development co-operation made during Prime Minister Helen Clark's visit last year to Vietnam.

The two ministers also exchanged views on the development of ASEAN and measures to intensify relations between ASEAN and New Zealand and Australia to mark 30 years of diplomatic relations between them.

They also touched upon co-operation in the sub-Mekong region.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

Vietnam wants to buy some sheep?

new zealand have one of the most advance argriculture technology in the world. developing nation which has its population dominated by farmers, will love to hav closer ties with NZ, and even australia, and south africa.

LAMB is YUMMY...........