Keeping relationships in good repair: Murray McCully provides an update on New Zealand's foreign policy.

• Author: McCully, Murray

All New Zealand's important relationships are in good repair. Although those with Australia and the United States are in a quiet period because of impending or recent elections, they will soon bounce back. With the United States there are hopes of a major breakthrough in terms of trade relations. Sino-New Zealand relations are also subdued, but trade is burgeoning. Japan's decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a welcome change and New Zealand continues to pursue a free trade agreement with South Korea. The government is pressing ahead with plans to strengthen relations in a number of other areas, including Russia, South Asia, Latin America, the Persian Gulf and especially the South Pacific. It is also alive to the potential benefits of closer ties with countries on the African continent.

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I want to use this opportunity to provide a quick review of the status of our relationships and from that base to look forward at some of the issues we will need to confront in the years immediately ahead.

I think I can report that all of our important relationships are in good repair. Starting with our largest and most important relationship, Australia, I can report a continuation of the sort of co-operation that exists only between our two countries. This manifests itself especially strongly in the shared leadership role that we play in the Pacific. New Zealand exports to Australia, which have softened a little in the past two years, remain around the $10 billion mark--well ahead of our other markets.

While federal elections in Australia in September will call for a quieter period in the relationship over the coming months, I have no hesitation in asserting that this unique relationship will re-gather its normal momentum regardless of the election outcome, later this year.

Similarly, there has been a quieter period in our relationship with the United States as the second Obama administration continues to take shape. The relationship with the United States today is a fundamentally different and better one than was evident five years ago.

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I believe the Key government's strategy of removing this relationship from domestic political contention and slowly building trust and confidence has served our interests well. The initial interactions with Secretary of State John Kerry have been extremely positive and I will visit Washington later in May for our first formal talks.

Hopefully we are poised to make a major breakthrough in terms of our trade relations. Our exports to the United States have been bumping around a little over the $4 billion mark for around a decade now. It is heartening to see the level of ambition being brought by the Obama administration to the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, which bring the promise of a reinvigorated trade relationship in the immediate future.

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