Naval ships of New Zealand visit Vietnam

According to Commander of the Joint Forces New Zealand Rear Admiral James Gilmour who is leading the New Zealand delegation, the visit follows a successful trip to his country by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Minister of National Defense, in July 2023.

The visit is a demonstration of the intensive cooperation between the two countries and aims to help strengthen their defense relations as well as people-to-people ties.

He also noted that, New Zealand pledges to boost defense cooperation with Vietnam on the basis of respect for international law and the rules on navigation freedom, he went on, adding that it believes the development and expansion of bilateral relations will contribute to regional security.

Over the past years, Vietnam and New Zealand have frequently shared information and promoted cooperation via the annual defense strategy and defense policy dialogues, along with within multilateral frameworks such as the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus.

During their stay in HCMC, the officers and sailors of New Zealand will engage in a number of activities, including meetings between the countries’ navies, sports exchanges, and community activities. They will also join the High Command of Vietnam’s Naval Region 2 in a sand table exercise.

The HMNZSTeMana has a length of 118m, an overall beam of 14.8m, a displacement of 3,600 tons, and a maximum speed of 27 nautical miles per hour, and operates on a range of 6,000 nautical miles.

The HMNZS Aotearoa measures 173 metres long and weighs around 24,000 tonnes, making it the largest ship in the New Zealand Navy.