(VOVworld) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh held talks with New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully in Hanoi on Wednesday. The two diplomats agreed to maintain the exchange of visits and hold activities to mark the 40^th anniversary of diplomatic relations. They also agreed to continue to implement the Vietnam-New Zealand Action Program for the 2013-2016 period to foster their bilateral comprehensive partnership. The two foreign ministers pledged mutual support at regional and global forums including the East Asia Summit (EAS), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), and at the United Nations. They stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability and cooperation in the East Sea, ensuring maritime safety and security and freedom of navigation, implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and formulating a Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC). The two diplomats also reiterated the commitment to support one another’s bid for non-permanent membership at the UN Security Council and to host the APEC Summit in Vietnam in 2017 and in New Zealand in 2019.