On Thursday, the Party General Secretary of Vietnam, Nong Duc Manh, visited New Zealand to have talks with our Prime Minister. Mr Manh thanked New Zealand for the support that our country has given, especially in education and training. New Zealand has promised to increase the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students.

New Zealand is interested in increasing trade with Vietnam. New Zealand signed a free trade agreement with ASEAN earlier this year. ASEAN is the Association of South East Asian countries consisting of 10 countries with a population of more than 566 million people. Together ASEAN countries are our third largest export market. Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia make up most of that market. They buy our dairy products and other food. New Zealand would like Vietnam to increase their imports of our products.