Clark US visit to push tourism

Prime Minister Helen Clark leaves tomorrow for a short visit to the United States which will focus on tourism, trade and international affairs.

The main reason is the premiere of the tourist documentary New Zealand: The Royal Tour, which features Helen Clark as "tour guide" and is to screen worldwide on the Discovery Channel.

The producers expect the documentary to be seen by more than 70 million people in the US alone.

Helen Clark will have interviews with television networks and meet US tourism, trade and investment representatives in Los Angeles.

In New York, she will call on United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the head of the UN's Iraq weapons monitoring operation, Hans Blix, and will speak at a lunch hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce and the Asia Society.

"This is an opportunity to focus US business attention on the importance of freeing up trade as an engine for economic growth and stability in the Asia Pacific, and make the case for a free-trade agreement between the United States and New Zealand," the Prime Minister said yesterday.

It was critical that New Zealand took every opportunity to push its case in the US - the prize was no less than a special working partnership with the world's largest economy, Helen Clark said.

She would discuss the situation in Iraq and the international response to terrorism with Mr Annan.

"The meeting with Dr Blix will be particularly timely, since the UN Security Council will this week be considering Iraq's declaration of its holdings of weapons of mass destruction," she said.

Helen Clark returns on Monday.

- NZPA