Ardern visits Vietnam to promote brand NZ
As Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau and Anthony Albanese descend on Bali for the latest stop in a weeklong diplomatic circuit, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has taken a detour to Vietnam.
Ardern was not invited to the G20 meeting being held in Indonesia, so yesterday she flew from Phnom Penh – where the spotlight was on leaders attending the East Asia Summit (EAS) – to Hanoi.
Ardern’s eight-day Southeast Asian jaunt will be bookended by EAS and Apec, another major regional forum being held in Thailand. But the Vietnam leg will be a trade mission, an opportunity to sell brand New Zealand – and not without the pageantry she’s been welcomed with so far.
‘‘This is such a growing market for us. In five years, you’ve seen our trade increase with
Vietnam by 43%,’’ Ardern said, prior to leaving Phnom Penh.
‘‘It’s a growing middle class, it’s a growing economy ... it’s such an important opportunity for us.’’
The idea of a trade mission is that high-level political representation opens doors for New Zealand businesses eager to enter a market.
Ardern’s first day in Hanoi was expected to focus less on the New Zealand businesses and more on meeting Vietnam’s
communist leaders. She would also visit Ho Chi Minh City, before travelling on to Bangkok.
‘‘I undertake meetings at leader level, they [the business delegation] then are undertaking their visits at business level, but without the two of them, that’s what’s needed for the success of this session.’’
She said her and Trade Minister Damien O’Connor’s presence alongside the business delegation ‘‘matters, even if we have slightly different agendas for the day’’.
Ardern and her delegation of government officials would join the business delegation for product launches, networking events, and New Zealand’s agriculture and education sectors.
Business leaders on the delegation include Boring Oat Milk founder Morgan Maw, household products company ecostore chief executive Pablo Kraus and dried fruit producer Little Beauties chief operation officer Bonnie Slade.
Ardern already discussed the trip with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, having sat next to him at a gala dinner on Saturday evening.
‘‘I was really heartened to know that he was not just aware of our trip, but very much involved in it. And I think that speaks to the close connections between business, trade and politics in Vietnam.’’
A constant question for the Government’s trade agenda has been how it aligns with its human rights interests – a question no more apparent than in the China trading relationship, where New Zealand relies on an export market that is governed by an authoritarian communist party.
In regard to Vietnam, Ardern said New Zealand had used the negotiations of the regionspanning free trade deal CPTPP as ‘‘a lever to improve labour laws’’.
‘‘There’s an example of where we’ve used our engagement and our trade relationships to try and make improvements.’’