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Speaker 1: The Prime Minister are off of Vietnam this week for

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Speaker 1: bilateral talks. It comes as a New Zealand Asia Foundation

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Speaker 1: put out a report which explores potential ways that we

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Speaker 1: can improve this relationship with Vietnam. It includes things like

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Speaker 1: strengthening trade and stuff like fashion and food, and collaborating

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Speaker 1: on defense and security matters, which are something the top

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Speaker 1: of mind. Have you noticed. Susannah Jessup is the chief

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Speaker 1: executive of the New Zealand Asia Foundation and joins you

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Speaker 1: this morning. Good morning to says Anna.

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Speaker 2: Good morning. Andrew's lovely to join you.

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Speaker 1: Very good. Now, look, when we talk about Asia trade,

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Speaker 1: we know about Indonesia and China, but how much of

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Speaker 1: a powerhouse is Vietnam these days.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good to think of Vietnam as a pacesetter

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Speaker 2: in Southeast Asia. It's, as you noted, and you're opening

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Speaker 2: one of the fastest growing economies in the region, I think,

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Speaker 2: averaging around seven percent. But it's also one of the

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Speaker 2: most youthful countries in Southeast Asia, which is really helping

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Speaker 2: to drive that consumption and demand. Because of that, it's

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Speaker 2: attracting a lot of attention. Is what's called a China

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Speaker 2: now plus one investment destination where Vietnam has increasingly be

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Speaker 2: chosen by countries because it's stable and because of that

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Speaker 2: growth increasingly influential. So for New Zealand, it's really about

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Speaker 2: connecting to this growth, as we did with China. How

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Speaker 2: do you say the name?

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Speaker 1: How do you say the name? You say Vietnam, I

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Speaker 1: see Vietnam. How should we say it? Oh?

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Speaker 2: Either, I mean it's an extent.

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Speaker 1: No, No, you're good. Well, if we're working on a

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Speaker 1: bilateral relationship, it always pays to actually get the name right,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, okay, absolutely, Okay.

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Speaker 1: So this is big, So you've been studying it. Where

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Speaker 1: can we what can we offer to each other to

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Speaker 1: strengthen this relationship. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: In the past, as you rightly noted, it was much

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Speaker 2: about New Zealand offering development sport to Vietnam. So, for example,

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Speaker 2: in the early nineteen sixties we were a gentleman called

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Speaker 2: Dr Michael Sheckleton and his team were offering medical care

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Speaker 2: in sort of treatment during the Vietnam or whereas today

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Speaker 2: it's much more about mutual opportunity. So looking at areas

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Speaker 2: of agritech and food production, or looking at New Zealand

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Speaker 2: providing education services, but you know, we had forty eight

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Speaker 2: thousand New Zealand tourists go to Vietnam last year, so

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Speaker 2: that two way services. Trade. Fisheries management is another area

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Speaker 2: of priority for Vietnam, helping with energy transitions, so both

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Speaker 2: looking at clean green energy options, particularly as AI comes

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Speaker 2: into alone.

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Speaker 1: Good good. In your report you also mentioned defense, and

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Speaker 1: of course our thoughts are about defense because of the

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Speaker 1: activity of Chinese naval ships near Australia and New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: You know, what do you make of all of this

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Speaker 1: and how could Vietnam help us in defense?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, like late New Zealand, naval and coastal defense is

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Speaker 2: Vietnam's number one focus. So they have the South China

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Speaker 2: Sea which has claimed parts of Vietnam's Exclusive economic zone.

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Speaker 2: But there's also concerned along the Mekong River of militarization

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Speaker 2: and for trade for excess of vessels. So we two

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Speaker 2: are concerned that our region not be militarized, and so

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Speaker 2: we would look to work together for modernization of our militaries,

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Speaker 2: for exercises together human and disaster relief assistance and peacekeeping,

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Speaker 2: but coming together as two militaries where we want to

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Speaker 2: see freedom of navigation and a peaceful, secure region.

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Speaker 1: Toby Also, Zanna, thank you so much for getting up

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Speaker 1: earlier for us as an anticip as the chief executive

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Speaker 1: of the New Zealand Asia Foundation. For more from Early

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Speaker 1: Edition with Ryan Bridge.

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