 Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung (L) and his New Zealand counterpart Ben King (Photo: Minstry of Foreign Affairs) |
At the 11th Vietnam-New Zealand Political Consultation held in Wellington this week, the two sides said they would make greater efforts to boost cooperation in science, technology, labor and people’s exchanges. They agreed to implement the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to achieve a trade turnover of 2 billion USD in 2020.
Both sides shared concern about complicated development in the East Sea and underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, non-militarisation, self-restraint and non-complication of the situation. All disputes must be settled based on international laws, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). They also called for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and negotiations to complete the Code of Conduct (COC) in the waters.