KEY POINTS:
The United States has declared 2007 "the year of the Pacific" just as Prime Minister Helen Clark leaves for talks in Washington.
The US has also said it wants to hold regular summits with Pacific Island leaders, and will invite leaders to attend a conference in Washington in May.
Helen Clark leaves for Washington tonight, where the Pacific, security and trade will be high on the agenda.
The new American emphasis on the Pacific was set out in a statement to a foreign affairs subcommittee by Glyn Davies, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State responsible for Asia and the Pacific.
"We are seeking to expand our engagement and reverse any perception that the US has withdrawn from the Pacific," he said.
Mr Davies is deputy to Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill who is seen as the main driver in the improved relationship between the United States and New Zealand.
His statement will have been deliberately timed to come before Helen Clark's visit, and she is likely to view the greater emphasis on the Pacific by the United States as a positive move.
The position goes to the heart of why the relationship has improved - the greater recognition of the importance of the region, and by implication the value of New Zealand's work in it, and the prospect of much closer co-operation in the future.
Mr Davies said the United States wanted to step up efforts to promote prosperity, good governance and the rule of law in the region.
"Toward that end, we are labelling 2007 'the year of the Pacific' and developing a whole-of-government approach ... to expand our presence and activities in the region."
He said that in the 1990s, budget constraints and other priorities had meant that Pacific nations had not always received diplomatic attention or development assistance from the US.
The United States held a one-off meeting of Pacific leaders three years ago, but Mr Davies has said there would be another in May to which 23 leaders of island states and territories would be invited.
Such meetings would be held every three years.
It is not yet known whether Fiji coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama will be on the guest list.
The statement also shows the different degrees of friendship in the United States' relationships with Australia and New Zealand. "
"The bedrock of our relations in the region remains, of course, our treaty alliance with Australia," he said.
"We simply have no more steadfast partner in the region and in the world today."
New Zealand was "our other key partner in the South Pacific" which "remains an important and close friend."
"While New Zealand anti-nuclear legislation precludes a military alliance, our relationship is excellent.
"Both countries recognise each other's policy position and have decided not to let this difference define the entire relationship."
Lack of free trade agreement 'insulting'
Washington insider Richard V. Allen says it is "insulting" that New Zealand is so far down the queue for a free trade agreement with the US and Prime Minister Helen Clark must give the matter priority during her Washington visit this week. "It's high time."
He says Helen Clark could best use her time lobbying the Congress on New Zealand's behalf. "And if [New Zealand is such] 'very, very, very good friends' in the words of the inimitable and immortal Colin Powell then this may be the time to produce some acts of friendship," he said from his New Zealand residence in Central Otago.
Mr Allen, a member of the Pentagon's Defence Policy Board, was National Security Adviser to former President Ronald Reagan and former chief foreign policy adviser to Richard Nixon. He's a part-time resident of New Zealand.
The United States reiterated its position last week on a free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand, saying it was possible in the future.
"While we may consider an FTA with New Zealand in the future, we are currently working through our Trade and Investment Framework Agreement [TIFA] to further deepen our economic relationship," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Glyn Davies told a House of Representative foreign affairs subcommittee.
TIFA is an arrangement at officials level that seeks to make trade and business between countries easier.
Mr Allen said if Helen Clark sought his advice, he would tell her to use all the leverage she could muster to get a free trade agreement.
"It is more than ironic and a bit insulting that NZ is so far down the queue that we [the US] can be dealing with Vietnam and the Republic of Korea.
"New Zealand blood was shed in wars with us. Why it cannot possibly leverage its present apparently good relationship into a free trade agreement would be beyond me."
Mr Allen did not accept public assurances that matters such as the continued deployment of New Zealand troops in Afghanistan or the offer of another frigate to the maritime interdiction operation in the Gulf were unrelated to the Prime Minister's visit.
He believed Helen Clark would be well received in Washington because of her experience. "This Prime Minister is extraordinary at focusing her abilities. Whatever you may think about policies and politics, she has a presence on the international stage.
"It has been very well formulated and very well executed. I think she will perform in Washington with considerably more confidence than she did the last time around."
The executive director of the New Zealand-United States Council, Stephen Jacobi, believed the US realised that it needed reliable friends like New Zealand, which had been "staunch" in Afghanistan and the Pacific. New Zealand has also realised that if it wanted to pursue "economic transformation" it could not do it without the US.
