Growing New Zealand’s place in the world

Last week I returned from a successful trip to Europe and Indonesia where I had a series of meetings with world leaders.

With Parliament in the midst of a four week recess, I took the opportunity to make the trip to further strengthen our relationships with key European countries, and it proved timely in light of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

One of the main purposes of the trip was to meet with the leaders of Italy and France and to attend the Bastille Day commemorations, which this year coincided with the 100-year anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

Italy and France are important trading partners to New Zealand and are some of the world’s largest economies. We had good discussions around further trade and economic opportunities, including a possible free trade deal with the European Union, which could deliver significant benefits to our country.

New Zealand had been invited to take part in the Bastille Day commemorations in France this year to acknowledge the significant contribution we made during World War One. More than 80 New Zealand Defence Force personnel marched in the parade. 

Around 15,000 New Zealand troops were involved in the Battle of Somme, and more than 2,000 were killed. It was an honour to be able to join the Defence Force personnel to pay our respects to the soldiers who fought and died in France and to reflect on the sacrifice they made.

Along with the rest of New Zealand, I was shocked at the horrific attack that took place at Bastille Day celebrations in Nice later that night and I offered my condolences to the people of France.

On my return from Europe, I made a quick two-day visit to Indonesia aimed at boosting New Zealand’s economic and political links.

While in Indonesia, I met with President Joko Widodo in Jakarta and witnessed the signings of six deals worth more than NZ$60 million to New Zealand’s economy.

This signals the increasing importance of business between our two countries, with two-way trade currently sitting at $1.6 billion a year, and we see huge potential to build that relationship further.

I landed back in New Zealand in time to meet with US Vice-President Joe Biden in Auckland on Thursday. Our relationship with the United States continues to go from strength to strength and it was great that Vice-President Biden found some time to come and visit New Zealand.

During this visit, he confirmed the United States has accepted an invitation to send a ship to attend the Royal New Zealand Navy’s 75th anniversary later this year, which we’ve welcomed.

Overall, the trip and visit by Vice-President Biden helped to further strengthen and grow our global relationships and to promote New Zealand to the world.