KEY POINTS:
One of the great champions for New Zealand in Washington, Fred Benson, will have a medal presented to him today by Prime Minister Helen Clark.
The presentation will be made after she meets US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and visits Congress.
Mr Benson was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year's honours list.
He was a long-serving president of the United States-New Zealand Council which was formed in 1986 by a former US ambassador, Anne Martindell, to promote business, professional and cultural links between the two nations.
Mr Benson has been a strong advocate for a free trade agreement with New Zealand. Helen Clark will also present a medal to another American, Dr Karl Erb, who was awarded an honorary New Zealand Antarctic medal in the New Year's honours list.
Dr Erb is the director for polar programmes and director of the the United States Antarctic programme.
Speaking to the Herald before she arrived in the US last night, Helen Clark said of the awards: "When we do the honours list we are always looking for people offshore who aren't New Zealand citizens but who have made a contribution to New Zealand one way or another. Fred Benson certainly did and Karl Erb has been responsible for a lot of co-operation."
