General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and State President To Lam and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation is paying a State visit to New Zealand, at the invitation of Governor-General Cindy Kiro.

The visit marks the first time a Vietnamese General Secretary and State President has visited New Zealand. It is an important milestone in relations between the two countries, opening an opportunity for their leaders to review the achievements made over more than 50 years of nurturing bilateral ties, while creating new momentum to advance bilateral cooperation to a higher, more effective and deeper level.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee
and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

The visit by the Party General Secretary and State President holds special significance, as it is the first State visit to New Zealand by a Vietnamese Party General Secretary and State President in both capacities, and also the first visit by a key Vietnamese leader since the two countries upgraded their relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in February 2025.

The visit affirms Viet Nam’s consistent policy of valuing its relations with New Zealand, a friendly and promising partner that shares many similarities with Viet Nam in the South Pacific. It also marks an important milestone in taking the Viet Nam-New Zealand Comprehensive Strategic Partnership forward in a stronger, more substantive and effective manner in the new period.

More than 50 years of nurturing friendship

The year 2025 was of important significance in Viet Nam-New Zealand relations, as the two countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. Since Viet Nam and New Zealand established diplomatic relations on June 19, 1975, the two countries have made great strides in nurturing their relationship. They upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Partnership in 2009 and a Strategic Partnership in 2020.

In 2025, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the two countries decided to upgrade their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The two milestones taking place in the same year reflected the maturity of bilateral relations and the trust built up over many generations. New Zealand leaders have affirmed that Viet Nam is an important factor in the country’s policy towards the Asia-Pacific region.

Political trust and mutual understanding between the two countries are being increasingly strengthened. The two countries maintain high-level contacts and an annual consultation mechanism. The two countries also coordinate closely within ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the United Nations. As the country coordinating ASEAN-New Zealand relations for the 2024-2027 period, Viet Nam has made an important contribution to promoting the upgrading of ASEAN-New Zealand relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, serving as an effective bridge to bring New Zealand closer to Southeast Asia.

The sweet fruits of close cooperation

The economy is a bright spot in Viet Nam-New Zealand cooperation. Viet Nam is New Zealand's 12th-largest trading partner, accounting for 2.1% of New Zealand's total import and export turnover. In 2025, Viet Nam's total import and export turnover with New Zealand reached 1.5 billion USD, up 15.8% compared with the same period in 2024. The structure of goods traded between Viet Nam and New Zealand is highly complementary, with exports from the two countries basically not competing directly with each other.

In terms of investment, as of June 30, 2026, New Zealand had invested in 61 valid projects in Viet Nam, with total registered capital of approximately 191 million USD. Viet Nam had invested in 13 projects in New Zealand, with total investment capital of approximately 44.5 million USD.

New Zealand provides Viet Nam with stable ODA funding, which has increased gradually each year, averaging about 30 million NZD (equivalent to 16 million USD) over four to five years, focusing on agriculture, climate change response, education and other areas. New Zealand provided 3 million NZD to help Viet Nam overcome the consequences of storms and floods. Although not large in scale, New Zealand's ODA projects are all practical and highly effective, meeting Viet Nam's development needs.

Both sides are also actively accelerating cooperation in security and defence. New Zealand supports Viet Nam in organising training courses on counter-terrorism, forensic science and investigation, and the prevention of money laundering crime, high-tech crime, and human trafficking. Both sides continue to implement training support programmes — particularly in English for peacekeeping operations — and maintain naval ship visits and the bilateral defence dialogue mechanism. In October 2025, a Royal New Zealand Navy vessel visited Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Educational cooperation between the two countries has generated robust outcomes. New Zealand has long supported English language training for Viet Nam's personnel; approximately 2,000 Vietnamese students are currently studying in New Zealand. Viet Nam ranks fifth in terms of the number of international students in New Zealand. New Zealand disseminates its expertise in vocational education, national qualification frameworks, English language training, vocational skill standardisation, and quality assurance.

The New Zealand Government has increased the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students — ranging from high school to postgraduate levels — by 56%, affirming our strong commitment to Viet Nam's development. The Education Forum held during the visit will connect educational institutions from both countries while affirming New Zealand as a partner in high-quality education and innovation.

Agriculture represents a pivotal and high-potential frontier for bilateral cooperation. Viet Nam has opened its market to New Zealand products such as frozen beef, kiwifruit, apples, pumpkins, and strawberries. New Zealand has granted licenses for Vietnamese mangoes, dragon fruit, rambutans, limes, and pomelos. Viet Nam has proposed opening its market to durian, cut flowers, passion fruit, and lychee, while New Zealand has requested that Viet Nam expedite market access procedures for pears, honey, and venison meat.

On regional and international cooperation, Viet Nam and New Zealand are members of important regional and international organisations and forums, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), APEC, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and a number of ASEAN cooperation mechanisms. The two countries support each other and coordinate closely in implementing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).  Recently, New Zealand supported Viet Nam’s candidate for Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for the 2026-2035 term. Viet Nam has affirmed its support for New Zealand’s candidacy for the International Law Commission (ILC) for the 2028-2032 term.

The Vietnamese community in New Zealand numbers around 14,000, including 8,000 long-standing overseas Vietnamese, mainly living in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The vast majority of the community has stable lives and maintain strong ties with their homeland. The Vietnamese Students’ Association in New Zealand was established in March 2022, becoming the first nationwide Vietnamese student association and a member of the Vietnamese Students’ Association.

In an increasingly unpredictable world, the relationship between New Zealand and Viet Nam is becoming ever more important. Both countries share interests in maintaining regional stability, liberalising trade, respecting international law, and protecting a rules-based system. This visit will contribute to maintaining the substantive nature of the bilateral relationship, its forward-looking vision, and its focus on tangible results.