Australia-New Zealand Foreign Ministers’ Meeting

I will host the biannual Australia-New Zealand Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 1-2 July on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. This will be the twelfth such meeting between myself and New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Phil Goff.

The biannual talks with my New Zealand counterpart reflect the ongoing strength and importance of our bilateral relationship and provide an invaluable opportunity for detailed and frank discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues of concern to both countries.

Pacific matters will be a particular focus, reflecting the close working relationship we have with New Zealand in our region. We will discuss, among other things, the progress of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and the recent successful conduct of elections for an Autonomous Bougainville Government.

We will also discuss the outcomes of the highly successful second Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum held this year in Melbourne. I attended the Forum with the Australian Treasurer Peter Costello, Mr Goff and New Zealand’s Minister for Economic Development Jim Anderton. Our two Governments’ Single Economic Market initiative was again the principal focus of this Forum.

Global issues including Iraq, nuclear non-proliferation and priorities and prospects for the UN’s World Summit in September will be other matters discussed at the meeting.

An issue on which New Zealand and Australia are very much of the same mind is our strong condemnation of the human rights abuses by the Zimbabwe Government.

Mr Goff and I will discuss the possibility of a joint approach to the International Cricket Council regarding our sporting teams’ obligations to tour countries where outrageous human rights abuses are taking place.

Media inquiries : Ministerial 02 6277 7500, DFAT Media Liaison 02 6261 1555