Security on agenda for talks in US

The issue of regional security will be on the agenda of the United States-New Zealand Partnership Forum meeting next week in Washington.

It is not known if US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will address the forum.

A delegation of 55 politicians and business leaders from New Zealand will join about 65 delegates from the United States for the third such closed-door forum, which has a business bent.

Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will attend.

He replaces Christopher Hill, who worked closely on the New Zealand relationship and has become US Ambassador to Iraq.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Trade Negotiations Minister Tim Groser will lead the political team, with Labour leader Phil Goff and trade spokeswoman Maryan Street.

Former assistant secretary of state Richard Armitage, who attended the Auckland forum in 2007, had suggested that security be on the agenda, said the executive director of the US-NZ Council Stephen Jacobi.

"We were a little wary about where that might lead to but I think it is significant that it was the Americans saying to us we would like to talk about this again so it has been put on the agenda to see what that delivers."

The session on security would look at the threats and challenges in the Pacific region and where the two countries could co-operate further.

Mr Armitage and Ellen Tauscher, the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, would discuss security with New Zealand Defence Secretary John McKinnon and former Commander of New Zealand's Joint Forces Martyn Dunne, who is also head of the Customs Service, is involved in the Defence Review being undertaken at present.

With major changes in the relationship between the US and New Zealand since the first forum in 2006, it is likely to discuss ideas on how the two countries can co-operate more on the the Obama Administration's nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation agenda. New Zealand's anti-nuclear law has been formally set aside as a problem since 2007, when the relationship markedly improved.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will give one of the keynote addresses.

The Obama Administration has not yet decided whether it will confirm the previous Administration's decision to enter free trade talks in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Mr Jacobi did not believe the forum could have much of an impact on that decision.

That had more to do with a whole lot of things that did not depend on New Zealand.

"This event can do more generally and in relation to TPP, to build up the interest there is in this agreement by demonstrating the value that we, one of the partners, would see arising from US involvement.

"We are not using this event to convince them into something - all the arguments about TPP have been made - but further illustrating some of the benefits that we see and continuing to work on our own constituency in the United States."

The main objective of the gathering was about trying to build a "value proposition" for closer engagement between the two countries.

Former Prime Ministers Jim Bolger and Mike Moore will chair the forum for the New Zealand side and former Democrat Congressman Cal Dooley and president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the last Trade Representative (Trade Minister) in the Bush Administration Susan Schwab on the US side.

Business leaders include Andrew Ferrier of Fonterra, Sir Stephen Tindall of The Warehouse Group, Tony Gibbs of Turners & Growers, Craig Norgate of Rural Portfolio Investments, John Palmer as Air New Zealand and Solid Energy chairman, Wayne Boyd of Telecom, Bill Falconer of the Meat Industry Association and Theresa Gattung, chairwoman of Wool Partners International.