Swedish PM begins visit with trip to sanctuary

Goeran Persson (left) and Helen Clark on their way to Tiritiri Matangi Island yesterday. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Climate change is on the agenda of talks between Prime Minister Helen Clark and her Swedish counterpart, Goeran Persson, after a mood-setting visit to a Hauraki Gulf wildlife sanctuary, Tiritiri Matangi Island, yesterday.

Mr Persson, the first Swedish Prime Minister to visit New Zealand, was offered a chance to unwind from his flight here by joining Ms Clark and Conservation Minister Chris Carter on the afternoon cruise to the island.

Like his host, he heads a minority social democratic government, and greeted Helen Clark on the Auckland waterfront like an old friend.

Informality was de rigueur for the excursion, with 57-year-old Mr Persson dressed in a casual open-necked shirt and Helen Clark in trainer shoes as they boarded the luxury motor-yacht Pacific Mermaid.

The pair, who have met several times, will hold formal talks at Parliament today before Mr Persson leaves for Australia tomorrow.

Ms Clark said before yesterday's cruise that although Sweden was far away, and had few investment links with New Zealand, the two countries enjoyed a strong bilateral working-holiday scheme and good diplomatic relations.

"Sweden has had a Labour Government for all but nine years since the early 1930s, and they have very good social provisions but also run a strong economy - that's the mix we've always aspired to."

Mr Persson, who has headed the Swedish Government since 1996 and also intends delivering an address at Victoria University on economics and social policy, planned his visit here well before the Asian tsunami in which hundreds of his country's citizens were killed.

He has already made a separate trip to Thailand in the disaster's wake, but Helen Clark indicated that international aid and environmental issues were on the agenda of today's talks as well as Sweden's role in the European Union and a shared interest in disarmament.

His visit coincides with the introduction this week of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at curbing climate-changing carbon emissions, although Sweden is already 3.5 per cent below the target, compared with New Zealand's 22 per cent gross emissions surplus - for which it is confident of gaining enough carbon credits from new commercial forests.