US Vice President Joe Biden touches down in Auckland

United States Vice President Joe Biden touched down in Auckland this evening for the next leg of a tour to reinforce the US presence in the Pacific.

He arrived from Australia where he has spent the past three days.

Three of his granddaughters are travelling with him.

Activists from It's Our Future have been planning to greet him along the airport exit road with anti-TPP placards.

Biden is due to speak at a reception in Auckland tonight and will hold talks with Prime Minister John Key tomorrow at which regional security and TPP are likely to be discussed.

Joe Biden, second left, with his three granddaughters watch a keeper hold a echidna at Sydney's Taronga Zoo yesterday. Photo / AP

Biden held talks yesterday with re-elected Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney and talked up Turnbull, who announced that Australia would extend its training mission in Iraq, which it runs with New Zealand Defence Force personnel, to include the training of Iraqi police officers.

Biden said Australians were "the best trainers in the world".

"I can't tell you how much your commitment is appreciated."

He said Australia and the US had had each other's back for a long time.

"We continue to have one another's back and I assure you, the United States is going nowhere. The United States is here in the Pacific to stay. We are a Pacific nation. We are a Pacific power. And we will do our part to maintain peace and stability in the region."

Travelling with Biden are 12-year-old Natalia Biden, the daughter of Biden's oldest son, Beau, who died of brain cancer last year; 18-year-old Finnegan Biden and 21-year-old Naomi Biden, daughters of Biden's youngest son, Hunter.