Perspectives

Rt Hon Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand

"The US market is very important to New Zealand, and it has been since our early pioneering days. It is New Zealand’s second largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth more than $NZ8 billion per annum.  The United States is also our third largest investment partner, both in terms of Kiwi investment overseas and US investment here. American companies operating in New Zealand account for more than NZ$12 billion of investment and many thousands of jobs.

New Zealand has welcomed the news of a free trade agreement between the United States and Australia. We are well placed to take advantage of any resulting economic growth and we will continue to work in Washington on opening bilateral negotiations between the United States and New Zealand.  The US Administration is well aware of our interest, and we will continue to deploy our diplomatic and other resources to build on our already considerable support in the United States. An FTA with the United States offers potential economic benefits for both parties. There are also the broader strategic benefits to us of having strong links with not only the world's largest economy, but also with a great source of investment capital and innovation."

Excerpts from a speech by the Rt Hon Helen Clark to the American Chamber of Commerce Business Awards, 17 November 2004

Rt Hon Jim Bolger, Chairman, NZ US Council

"New Zealand and the United States are partners in the 21st century. To me this is an exciting and achievable proposition. Our partnership is based on the bedrock of shared values which both countries have been prepared to defend around the globe. We have defended the oppressed and advanced  individual freedom in battles on land, sea and in the air. We have done this at great personal cost, testified by the fact that the bones of our people rest together for all time in distant seas and foreign lands. In other battles in the conference rooms of the world we have time after time lined up together to try to persuade reluctant countries that open trade is the only way for the world to help poor countries better provide for their people. The United States is a remarkable country and much is expected of it and its people. The 21st century is going to challenge all who support open democratic values, so we must continue to work closely together"

(Address to the Gateway to America Conference, August 2005) 

Stephen Jacobi, Executive Director, NZ US Council

"Every day of every year New Zealanders and Americans whether as business people, officials, tourists, scientists, students or, yes, even members of the defence forces, participate in a relationship which is one of New Zealand’s most advanced and active. The scale of the relationship is seen most actively in trade statistics, the flow of investment and the arrival of tourists.  In 2006 Air New Zealand will celebrate 40 years of flying to the US,  and Christchurch, gateway to Antarctica, will celebrate 50 years of close cooperation with the United States in that arena.  There is already much to celebrate in a relationship which is broadly based, healthy and works well.  The question is - is there more that can be done to ensure the relationship delivers on all it can be.  That, in essence, is the role of the NZ US Council."

(Address to New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, December 2005)

Kevin Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, Saatchi and Saatchi

"The role of business is to make the world a better place.  Free and fair trade on multiple fronts is paramount to improving lives. There is no better place than New Zealand to advance this and,  I believe, no better partner in promoting progress and abundance than the United States. History shows that New Zealand represents the very edge of human possibility. Pound for pound, our contribution to global creativity and trade liberalisation is simply top of the world. The invitation to bring this New Zealand Edge to the  American Dream for sustained mutual benefit was irresistible.

The emotional links between New Zealand and the United States are woven by our shared defence and security history, love of freedom and opportunity, and incredible design, technology and creative capability. Our challenge is to unleash  these synergies through advancing a comprehensive free trade agreement. In complementing government-to-government  relationships, I will be representing the private sector in strengthening the connections, networks, understandings and agreements leading to this outcome."

Hon Phil Goff, Minister for Trade

“Different histories, location, size and experience clearly produce different outlooks and create different responsibilities. But a shared western heritage, which has shaped common liberal and democratic values, has also produced a like-mindedness that draws our countries together.

We also have a common interest in a world that is stable, secure, peaceful and prosperous. It makes sense for us to work together in pursuit of these objectives, but that does not require the suppression of differences of viewpoints on specific issues. We are, after all, both countries committed to pluralism”.

(Excerpt from an address to the US-NZ Partnership Forum Washington DC 20-22 April 2006)

Rt Hon Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs

"Let me make this as clear as possible. We need the United States, as well as Australia, to be intimately engaged in the Pacific if we are to be successful in our own endeavours. We also believe the EU has a positive role to play.We need to work closely with the US and we need to have a positive forward-looking relationship. And there are significant efforts being made on both sides to achieve that.

All too often commentators in this country are quick to gnaw at American vulnerabilities, lashing out hardest when the United States is confronting difficulties, rather than being more understanding, as friends should be at such times.

Our areas of difference are well known. Less attention is given to the broad range of policy positions and interests that we have in common with the United States - our similar outlook is underpinned by shared values and a commitment to democratic principles.

The issues of democratisation, good governance, and stability, which the United States is grappling with in a number of regions of the world, are similar to those we are grappling with in the Pacific. Our officials are in regular contact on these issues, sharing ideas about what has worked and what hasn't."

(Excerpt from a speech delivered on January 31 2007 to the Orewa Rotary Club)

U.S. Ambassador William P. McCormick

"The Prime Minister's visit clearly shows that the relationship between the United States and New Zealand is now the strongest it has been in decades. And I see things getting even better. Bilateral cooperation and engagement have become more frequent now than at any time in the last two decades. These are clearly good times for relations between our two countries." 

(Excerpt from an address by U.S. Ambassador William P. McCormick to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Wellington, 3 May 2007)