05 November 2010

United States and New Zealand Enhance Partnership

Secretary Clinton gestures during a news conference with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

By MacKenzie C. Babb
Staff Writer

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray Stuart McCully signed an agreement to enhance the partnership between their nations and address issues including nuclear nonproliferation, counterterrorism and climate change.

“This Wellington Declaration makes it clear that we want to cooperate across the board in every aspect of our civilian efforts and our military as well,” Clinton said November 4 at a news conference in Wellington with McCully and Prime Minister John Key.

Clinton said the agreement will allow the United States and New Zealand “to explore greater cooperation on everything from promoting sustainable economic development and strong democratic institutions across the region to working on security issues, clean energy and responding to natural disasters.”

“Today we’ve decided we want to be more ambitious for the U.S.-New Zealand relationship,” McCully said. “The Wellington Declaration asserts a determination to do more and achieve more together.”

“In my view, we have turned a very important page in the history of U.S.–New Zealand relations,” McCully said.

Clinton said the agreement “sets the stage for a deeper and more regular dialogue on everything from regional security issues to clean energy to our response to natural disasters.”

The leaders agreed the declaration establishes a strategic partnership that includes enhanced political-military discussions.

Clinton commended New Zealand for a defense strategy it released November 1, noting it emphasized “the U.S. and New Zealand will continue to be close security partners over the next 25 years,” and that the two countries want to do more in military cooperation, including officer exchanges, joint exercises and training.

Clinton paid tribute to New Zealand’s military dead with a trip to the National War Memorial in Wellington.

She later visited the U.S. Antarctic Program in Christchurch, which represents 50 years of U.S.-New Zealand scientific cooperation. Also in Christchurch, the secretary participated in a town hall meeting to reach out to local residents who recently suffered a 7.1-magnitude earthquake, which caused widespread regional damage.

Clinton was in New Zealand as part of a 13-day trip to seven East Asian and Pacific nations. State Department officials say her tour is intended to signal enhanced U.S. engagement with the region.

The secretary began traveling October 27 and is set to visit Australia and American Samoa before returning to Washington November 8. The secretary’s trip overlaps with President Obama’s travel to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan November 6–14.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)