NZ troops out of Iraq in September says PM

By FRAN O'SULLIVAN assistant editor

Helen Clark will pull engineering troops out of Iraq in September - but they may return next year.

The Prime Minister yesterday conceded that New Zealand's defence forces were "pretty stretched", with commitments to the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Her confirmation that the engineering team would not be immediately rolled over for a second six-month term came after a private meeting with visiting Australian Labor leader Mark Latham.

Mr Latham has been at loggerheads with Prime Minister John Howard over a promise that a Labor Government would bring Australian troops home from Iraq by Christmas.

Inevitably, Helen Clark was asked at a press conference whether, "Labour leader to Labor leader", she was buoyed by Latham's poll rise.

"It's impossible for me to comment on Australian domestic politics," she deadpanned.

"I have to maintain a strong working relationship with the Australian Government of the day."

Mr Latham said he had never viewed New Zealand "as a rival economy or nation", indicating future "Labor Governments" would want to benefit from each other's initiatives.

He identified three priorities:

* A close working partnership to "give good leadership in the neighbourhood". He said "the Howard Government took its eye off the ball ... it would be better to have ministers in place who were able to deal with Pacific islands, anticipate change and deal with issues before they become critical".

* The transtasman single market. "It is a big agenda ... we think it holds a lot of potential and we're very committed to that."

* Kickstarting the multilateral trade agenda. "All this energy is going into bilateral arrangements ... if the whole world does that, we end up with a spaghetti bowl of bilateral trade arrangements."


Herald Feature: Iraq