NZ-US relations 'best for 25 years'

Murray McCully

Foreign Minister Murray McCully, who will visit Washington next month, says relations between New Zealand and the United States are better now than they have been for 25 years.

Mr McCully will meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during his visit, the first high-level contact between the National-led Government and the Administration of President Barack Obama.

"Relations are, in my judgment, in better shape than we have seen in 25 years," Mr McCully said yesterday in a speech to the New Zealand-United States Business Council in Auckland. "That has been the result of careful and constructive effort on both sides over recent years."

Mr McCully said that was not a cause for complacency.

"For too long a period in our recent history both countries dwelt upon matters over which we differ and blurred our focus on the strong ties that have underpinned the relationship - our shared interests, our shared history and our shared values.

"The events of 9/11 served to remind us of the importance of those ties and served to remind us who our friends are."

When he announced yesterday that he would visit Washington from April 6 to 8, Mr McCully said he was looking forward to discussing with Mrs Clinton ways in which the relationship could be advanced.

Co-operation in the Pacific, the global financial crisis, the role of international trade, New Zealand's involvement in Afghanistan, and the US role in the Asia Pacific region will be among the topics to be discussed in Washington.

While there Mr McCully will chair a ministerial session of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

He will also meet members of the US-NZ Council, which will host the next partnership forum between New Zealand and the United States in October.

Mr McCully will attend a high-level conference on Afghanistan in The Hague next Tuesday.

- NZPA