Bahrain PM visits NZ

Prime minister Helen Clark with Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, on a cruise on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The Prime Minister of Bahrain will be welcomed to Parliament today.

Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa is in New Zealand for a brief visit with several other ministers from the small middle eastern country, to discuss trade and security.

Associate Professor of International Relations at Otago University, Dr Robert Patman, says Bahrain trades more than $30 million worth of goods with New Zealand each year.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated there are good prospects for expanding economic links.

Dr Patman says Bahrain is a country looking to identify itself on the international scene in a way it has not done before. He says increasingly countries are having to realise their fates are linked, whether it be with security, the economy or the environment.

- NEWSTALK ZB