KEY POINTS:
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will meet US Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice in Sydney today as a further indicator of thawing relations between New Zealand and Washington.
Mr Peters, who has previously met Dr Rice, will also meet Canadian counterpart Maxime Bernier this morning and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tomorrow in talks on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.
The series of meetings will focus on key security issues around the broader economic and environmental agenda of the summit.
Today's meeting with Dr Rice confirms the emergence of a new relationship from the shadow of New Zealand's non-nuclear policy and the years of isolation that followed Wellington's expulsion from the Anzus security pact in the mid-1980s.
Mr Peters and Dr Rice are expected to pick up on issues raised during Prime Minister Helen Clark's Washington visit in March and to discuss the two countries' concerns in Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.
A central issue will be North Korea - which Mr Peters will visit at the invitation of Pyongyang at a date yet to be decided - and this week's announcement that the rogue state will finally disable its nuclear programmes and open its doors to international monitors.
In Sydney, Mr Peters and Dr Rice are also expected to discuss the situation in the Gulf - including Iran - and in the broader Middle East, and events in Fiji.
Trade Minister Phil Goff is also in Sydney for talks while Helen Clark arrives on Friday for her eighth Apec leaders' summit.
