Eighteen business leaders to accompany New Zealand PM on Vietnam visit

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit Vietnam next week on a trade mission with a delegation of 18 business leaders.

The New Zealand business delegation includes the CEO of major soap maker Ecostore, Pablo Kraus; the founder of Boring Oat Milk, Morgan Maw; and Nathan Flowerday, a director of Zespri, the world's largest marketer of kiwifruit, according to Stuff, the most popular news website in New Zealand.

Ardern and the business delegation will be in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, attending product launches and networking events; promoting New Zealand agriculture and its hosting of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, with Vietnam being the first-time-ever competitors.

She will have a series of bilateral meetings with Vietnamese leaders, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The New Zealand PM’s Vietnam visit is scheduled for November 14-17, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ardern's Vietnam visit is part of her eight-day trip through Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, traveling first to Phnom Penh for the East Asia Summit, and then to Bangkok for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s leaders meeting.

Vietnam and New Zealand upgraded their relations to a strategic partnership in 2020, and have since achieved numerous advancements, including a bilateral trade value of $1.3 billion in 2021, up 26.7% from a year earlier, according to official data.

New Zealand has pledged to provide Vietnam with around $16 million worth of official development assistance (ODA) between July 2021 and June 2024.

Vietnam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, during his visit to New Zealand this September, asked New Zealand to facilitate Vietnamese agricultural shipments to the country. He also wished New Zealand would keep providing ODA for Vietnam, for such fields as sustainable agriculture, climate change response, healthcare, and innovation.

Son’s New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta said his country would support Vietnamese enterprises in investing in manufacturing, retail, agriculture, among others.