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New Zealand seeking to strengthen links with Vietnam, Singapore

Xinhua, June 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

New Zealand Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce will seek to bolster trade links with Vietnam and science cooperation with Singapore on visits to both countries next week.

Joyce said he would fly to Vietnam Saturday on Air New Zealand's inaugural direct flight between Auckland and Ho Chi Minh City, which would bolster tourist and business links between the two countries.

"Cooperation and contact between New Zealand and Vietnam has flourished in the past 15 years, boosted by Vietnam's rapid economic growth and its maturing confidence as an established ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member and a global citizen," Joyce said in a statement Friday.

In Ho Chi Minh City, he would open a new technology center that would act as a hub for New Zealand technology companies investing and doing business in Vietnam, as well as across the region.

"The center will benefit both New Zealand and Vietnam by utilizing New Zealand expertise and Vietnamese manufacturing and labor opportunities to take products and services into other ASEAN markets and beyond," said Joyce.

In Singapore, Joyce would meet with senior ministers and officials to explore ways to strengthen the bilateral science and innovation relationship.

This would include supporting collaborative efforts between New Zealand's Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and A*STAR, the lead Singaporean agency focused on fostering research to drive a knowledge-based economy. Endit