New Zealand Ambassador visits and works in Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn)- On June 25, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of New Zealand began a visit and working visit to Nghe An.

Welcoming Ambassador Haike Manning were comrades: Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, leaders of the Provincial People's Committee Office, Departments: Foreign Affairs, Planning and Investment, Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development and Department of Education and Training.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong presented flowers to welcome the ambassador to Nghe An.

At the meeting with the Ambassador, Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong introduced some features of the economic, cultural and social situation of Nghe An province as well as some cooperation contents between New Zealand and Nghe An province in the fields including agriculture, education, disaster risk management, etc.

The Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province affirmed that Nghe An is not only a strategic geographical location of Vietnam with a long border, a diverse, rich and modern transportation system, but the province also has advantages in abundant labor resources, rich resources, especially this is a land with a tradition of good education in Vietnam. Therefore, comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong hopes that New Zealand will pay attention to cooperating with Nghe An in areas such as high-tech agriculture, education and training, some ODA projects in the fields of agriculture, disaster risk management, etc. In particular, Nghe An always welcomes foreign investors, including New Zealand, to learn and cooperate, and the province will create the best conditions for investors in Nghe An.

Overview of the working session.

Expressing his joy at being able to work in the land of outstanding people, Nghe An, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Haike Manning said that Vietnam in general, Nghe An in particular and New Zealand have many opportunities for cooperation, especially in the fields of education, disaster risk management and agriculture.

Since 2012, the New Zealand Aid Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has funded the “Vietnam-New Zealand Research on Dam and Floodplain Safety” Project with a total budget of 2.5 million New Zealand dollars over 3 years. The project focuses on building and piloting a dam and risk management model based on the experience that the private and public sectors have gathered from best practices in New Zealand for replication in Vietnam. The project is implemented under the strategic partnership model between the Institute of Geo-Nuclear Sciences (GNS), Damwatch Company of New Zealand and Hanoi University of Water Resources. The project is implemented in the Hieu River basin, Nghe An province - a tributary of the Ca River, the third largest river in Vietnam.

The Ambassador hopes that New Zealand and Nghe An will have more cooperation programs in the future.

In addition, another important cooperation between New Zealand and Nghe An is through the TH True Milk Fresh Milk Project, which is importing thousands of dairy cows from New Zealand to Nghe An for TH True Milk's production activities.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong and the Ambassador gave gifts to each other at the working session.

“This is my first visit to Nghe An, I hope to have positive and productive discussions with leaders and the business community to build a close partnership between New Zealand and Nghe An. Cooperation between the New Zealand Embassy and Vietnamese provinces is an important part of the bilateral relationship between the two countries. I hope that the visit to Nghe An will bring specific cooperation opportunities to strengthen the friendship ahead of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and New Zealand in 2015”, Ambassador Manning affirmed.

Nguyen Khoa