New Zealand Foreign Minister Confident of Stronger US Relations
(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand is confident its relationship with the US can go from strength to strength, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said following a call with American Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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The strategic partnership between the two nations matters a great deal to the security and prosperity of New Zealand and the Indo-Pacific region, Peters said in a post on X Saturday in Wellington.
“We are ambitious for our relations with the US including to advance Pacific priorities,” Peters said. New Zealand also wants to “build on our increasing and mutually beneficial bilateral trade and expand collaboration in critical sectors such as space,” he said.
New Zealand and Australia are key partners for the US in the South Pacific. Geostrategic competition has become more intense over the past decade as the US and China vie for diplomatic influence as well as potential sway over key waterways and vast exclusive economic zones.
Separately, President Donald Trump named Jared Novelly as the next US Ambassador to New Zealand, and to the Independent State of Samoa. Novelly is chairman of Crest Sport and Entertainment and Crest Management, whose assets include the Illawarra Hawks basketball team in Australia and a stake in the East Asia Super League basketball championship.
He is a “highly respected philanthropist” and “will fight hard to protect our nation’s interests in the Indo-Pacific, and always put AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
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