KEY POINTS:
A visit to New Zealand by United States President George W. Bush is being actively considered in Washington, the Herald understands.
The visit would follow his attendance at the annual Apec summit in Sydney on September 8 and 9.
If a visit did eventuate, it would be a brief stop because President Bush must be back in the United States for the sixth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
It might mean just a Sunday evening visit after Apec finishes in Australia about midday.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could also visit.
The New Zealand United States Council is running its second "Partnership Forum" in Auckland from Monday, September 10, and there are hopes she will attend.
The Apec appointment is a must in Mr Bush's diary but more detailed travel arrangements are now being considered.
Prime Minister Helen Clark invited Mr Bush to come to New Zealand when she visited the White House in March.
It is not the first time she has invited him, but it is the first invitation since the marked improvement in Government relations between the two countries.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister today said a visit from President Bush around the dates of the Apec summit was "very unlikely", but if he did come he would be welcome.
However, the Herald understands security assessments are being considered in the event of Mr Bush and First Lady Laura Bush making a stop-over.
Sensitivity around such planning is high and no one in the United States Embassy would comment last night.
The last US President to visit was Bill Clinton in 1999, when Apec was held in Auckland.
The executive director of the New Zealand United States Council, Stephen Jacobi, did not think a visit would signal anything in terms of a free trade agreement.
"An FTA has to be considered in a longer timeframe now."
Congress's authority for the President to conclude trade agreements expires on Saturday. But a visit from a President would still be important.
"I think it would be important because it would be the next step in the continuing strengthening of the relationship," Mr Jacobi said.
"You've seen this process roll out over time. What would we do next? That [a visit here] would be the next logical thing if he was in the region."
Mr Jacobi said if the visit did not come off, he would not interpret it as a setback.
"But those sorts of visits are incredibly useful for symbolic value and would signify strongly that the relationship had entered a new phase and been taken to a new level."
A continuing strengthening of the relationship was a prerequisite for an eventual free trade agreement, "so the more we can do in that department the better".
What preceded the change in the relationship was a recognition by the US about two years ago that New Zealand's 1987 anti-nuclear legislation would not be changed by any New Zealand Government - and a decision by the White House to side-step the differences.
Helen Clark's attitude to the United States also became more positive once she accepted that it was not working to change the nuclear law.
That culminated in her visit to the White House.
- with NZPA
