Hanoi (VNA) - Trade between Vietnam and NewZealand tripled over the last decade, from 320 million USD in 2009 to over 1billion USD in 2018, and the figure is expected to hit 1.7 billion USD thisyear, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam is currently the 16th-largest tradepartner of New Zealand and the two countries boast many advantages from supplementingeach other. New Zealand has high demand for importing garments and textiles,footwear, wood, tropical farm produce, and seafood, which are strengths of Vietnam,while Vietnam needs to import milk and dairy products, wine, lamb, fruit, raw woodmaterials, and materials and accessories for garment-textile andleather-footwear.

New Zealand has allowed the import of Vietnamese freshmangoes, dragon fruit, and rambutan, while Vietnam is proposing it also grantlicences for the import of fresh limes and passionfruit.

Vietnam has opened door for potatoes, frozen beef,kiwi fruit, and apples from New Zealand, to boost bilateral trade.

In the context of COVID-19, Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc suggested the two countries strive to achieve two-way trade of 2 billionUSD each year, during his online high-level talks with his New Zealandcounterpart Jacinda Ardern.

He asked New Zealand to open its door wider to Vietnamesefarm produce as well as share experience in building brands and developingvalue chains for certain fruit to access other selective markets.

Keith Conway, Chargé d’Affaires at the New ZealandEmbassy in Vietnam, said two-way trade enjoyed growth of over 7 percent in2019.

Both countries are among the top 20 trade partners ofeach other, with two-way trade tripling after the agreement to set up theASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) was signed in 2009.

According to the official, both nations are making goodprogress in optimising the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and there will therefore be manyopportunities to expand markets, especially in high-end food, wine, agriculturetechnology and equipment, education, and tourism.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam WendyMatthews said 2020 marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

Vietnam has been one of New Zealand’s fastest-growingtrade partners in Southeast Asia over the last five years, she added./.