ince the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1975, the relationship between Vietnam and New Zealand has been well developed in many fields such as politics, commerce, security and defense, education, training and agriculture, etc. Two-way trade has increased by 150% since 2009 and reached NZ $ 1.15 billion by 2016. However, the cooperation in judicial and legal training has not yet met the expectations and the potential of both countries. The Ministry of Justice of Vietnam has just benefited from New Zealand scholarships such as the ELTO and English Language Training for Senior Leaders of Vietnam (ELTSO).
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Le Tien Chau said New Zealand has strength in the field of education and training. Enhancing of the legal and judicial cooperation between Vietnam and New Zealand will deepen the two countries' Strategic Partnership. Currently, the Ministry of Justice wants to coordinate and promote cooperation with New Zealand in the education and training of cadres, strengthening the capacity of the staffs of the Ministry of Justice and judicial sector to meet the requirements of international integration.
In agreement with Deputy Minister Le Tien Chau, NZ Attorney General Christopher Finlayson shared the need for legal and judicial cooperation between the two countries and stated that the such cooperation should be started from the field of legal training. According to Attorney General Christopher Finlayson, when the bilateral trade relationship between the two countries develops, New Zealand and Vietnam need to research and negotiate to sign an Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance to build a coordination mechanism in resolving commercial disputes quickly and efficiently.
At the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to New Zealand Nguyen Viet Dung affirmed that the Vietnamese Embassy in New Zealand is ready to be a bridge to promote the establishment and strengthening of legal and judicial cooperation between the two countries with the priority is the joint training programs for legal officers of the Ministry, the Judicial sector in general and the training cooperation programs between Hanoi Law University with legal training institutions of New Zealand in the coming time.