Should NZ work harder to improve its relationship with the US?

Full-blown military exercises between the United States and New Zealand could begin within a year, in contrast to the "speed dating" exercises of recent times, says Defence Minister Wayne Mapp.

New Zealand and the United States are now beginning to plan higher-level exercises as a result of the Wellington Declaration, he told the Herald yesterday.

Dr Mapp said the declaration, signed in Wellington last week by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was about Foreign Ministers including security and military issues in their talks rather than him talking more with his American counterpart, Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

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