PM Jacinda Ardern gets a pomelo picked by Vietnam's PM Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi. Photo / Supplied
PM Jacinda Ardern gets a pomelo picked by Vietnam's PM Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi. Photo / Supplied
When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last visited Vietnam in 2017 for Apec, the big drama was a last-minute hiccup that nearly derailed Trans Pacific Partnership talks just when leaders had thought it was a done deal.
On her return to Vietnam this week, both Ardern and Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh were celebrating the fruits of that trade agreement – quite literally.
After meeting Ardern, Chinh spoke to media about a desire to improve market access for fruit and maximising the trade agreements the two countries are part of.
Ardern also spoke about fruit: strawberries and New Zealand’s involvement in developing a new variety of dragon fruit, and the potential for more lime imports from Vietnam.
That night, Chinh drove the point home – he took Ardern on a walk around the gardens after a state dinner for her and her delegation. He picked a large pomelo from a tree and presented it to a delighted Ardern on a platter.
It will also have delighted some in the delegation: Zespri and a blueberry grower included, who are seeking to boost their exports to Vietnam and on whose behalf Ardern had spoken to Chinh about improving border processes.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern takes a pomelo from her Vietnam counterpart Pham Minh Chinh. Photo / Supplied
The pomelo moment ended a day when Ardern met the four most powerful people in Vietnam’s communist government.
Ardern was welcomed to Hanoi with a military parade outside the bright yellow President’s Palace, after placing a wreath at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Then came the round of meetings: the political prelude to the business delegation events she will take part in over the next two days.
After meeting her counterpart, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Ardern went to the Communist Party headquarters to meet the most powerful man in Vietnam, party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
Jacinda Ardern inspects the guard of honour with Vietnam's PM Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi. Photo / Thomas Manch (pool)
She then met President Nguyen Xuan Phuc before moving on to the National Assembly – Viet Nam’s parliament – to meet its Chairman, the equivalent of the Speaker.
After her meetings, Ardern said the political meetings were crucial for the trade delegation aspect of the trip because it was the government that controlled issues such as red tape at the borders.
“In these areas, government has quite a big hand.”
It seemed to work: after the meeting, Chinh referred to better access for goods at the borders in his comments to media and said the two countries should work together to enforce the trade agreements they were part of: the CPTPP, the Asean-Australia-New Zealand agreement, and RCEP.
It was a day Ardern described as “unique”.
A large bust of Vietnam’s former president and communist hero Ho Chi Minh sat at the head of every meeting room she was in, flanked by New Zealand and Vietnam flags. It highlighted the key difference between the two countries: one communist, one a democracy.
Ardern noted the two countries would have their differences. “The way our political systems operate is one of those.”
However, she said Vietnam did believe in values New Zealand also believed in, such as international law.
“They share the same view that when you see a threat to international law or undermining of the UN Charter, that’s a threat to peace and stability. Vietnam has a very clear eye on maintaining peace in our region. They’ve had a fraught, conflict-fuelled history. You can see why their focus would be on avoiding conflict in our region again because they’ve seen it first hand.”
Both Ardern and Chinh had come fresh from the East Asia Summit, where the topic of discussion was conflicts and tension in the region.
On the same day they were meeting, those topics - tensions between the US and China, and the flow-on effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – had moved to Indonesia, to the G20 Summit.
All eyes were on the meeting between US President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping and whether that would offer any reassurance to countries concerned about the impact the competition between them might have in the Indo-Pacific.
Ardern said the mere fact they were meeting face to face was important “and is to be celebrated”.
Both New Zealand and Vietnam have China as their largest trading partner and are anxious about the tension.
PM Jacinda Ardern lays a wreath at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi. Photo / Thomas Manch (pool)
However, Vietnam has ties to Russia and has refrained from imposing sanctions or condemning Russia over the Ukraine invasion as strongly as many other countries.
Ardern said there were differences in the relationship with Russia, but there was common ground in its concern about international law being breached – it just had not been as loud about it.
Many hope diplomacy will eventually bear fruit on these global issues – but diplomacy often moves at snail’s pace.
Ardern did get one example of it happening lightning fast: President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s parting gift to Ardern at the end of his meeting included presents for Neve, and a framed photo of Ardern and himself shaking hands.
The photo had been taken only 40 minutes earlier, when they met.
