Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of ASEAN SOM of Vietnam Dang Hoang Giang and Deputy Secretary of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Grahame Morton co-chaired the 33rd ASEAN–New Zealand Dialogue in Christchurch, New Zealand, on May 14-15.

Delegates at the 33rd ASEAN–New Zealand Dialogue.

In his speech, Giang affirmed that Vietnam and ASEAN highly value their trusted and long-term partnership with New Zealand.

With a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the 2026-2030 Plan of Action now in place, he called on both sides to focus efforts on effectively following the agreed goals and priorities, thereby pushing substantive cooperation to a level that matches the upgraded ties for the benefit of both ASEAN and New Zealand, as well as for regional peace, stability, and development.

Accordingly, he proposed that ASEAN and New Zealand continue their coordination to uphold multilateralism and international law.

Stressing the strategic importance of the East Sea to peace, stability, and global supply chains, he urged New Zealand to continue backing ASEAN’s efforts to maintain peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the region in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

On the economic front, he suggested both sides effectively follow the upgraded ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and expedite procedures to bring the ASEAN-New Zealand Air Services Agreement (ANZ-ASA) into force soon.

To respond to the Middle East conflicts and capitalise on each side’ strengths and potential, he also suggested stronger cooperation in green economy, digital economy, smart agriculture, and capacity building for climate change forecasting and adaptation.

In particular, he suggested that New Zealand, as a founding member of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), share its experience and help ASEAN member states gear up for the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), which is expected to be signed in November 2026.

On the occasion, he announced that Vietnam, in its role as coordinator for ASEAN-New Zealand relations for the July 2024–July 2027 period, plans to host the ASEAN - New Zealand Forum on Sub-regional Cooperation in June 2026, creating a venue for officials and experts to tighten coordination in sub-regional cooperation and drive sustainable regional development.

Participating countries welcomed the steady strides in ASEAN–New Zealand relations, noting with satisfaction that all action lines under the 2012-2025 Plan of Action had been completed.

Two-way trade held its growth trajectory, reaching 13.3 billion USD in 2025, while education, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges stayed brisk. ASEAN welcomed an estimated 630,000 visitors from New Zealand last year.

Both sides agreed to work harder to effectively follow the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership across all four pillars.

They stressed the need to keep upholding multilateralism and international law, maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight under the 1982 UNCLOS, and tackling emerging threats like cybersecurity and cybercrime.

Economically, ASEAN and New Zealand underscored the importance of maintaining energy and essential goods supply chains.

Both sides vowed to make effective use of existing cooperation frameworks, including the AANZFTA, while prioritising collaboration in energy transition, green finance, and digital economy.

Joint work in education, climate change response, disaster relief, narrowing development gaps, and connectivity will also be further stepped up.

New Zealand reaffirmed its long-term and consistent commitment to regional peace and prosperity, while appreciating the strong foundation built through more than five decades of cooperation with ASEAN.

It also reiterated support for ASEAN centrality and pledged to stay active in ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the East Asia Summit (EAS), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

It further committed to coordinating priority areas under the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and promoting cooperation between ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

New Zealand spoke highly of Vietnam’s coordinating role, particularly its contributions to upgrading ASEAN–New Zealand relations and facilitating the adoption of the Joint Vision Statement and the 2026-2030 Plan of Action, which will serve as a foundation to deepen and make ASEAN–New Zealand collaboration more substantive and effective.

Giang took the occasion to meet with Morton to discuss several issues concering bilateral relations. He also paid a courtesy call to New Zealand Minister for the Environment and Minister for Women Nicola Grigg.

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