New Zealand and the world: challenges we must meet: Winston Peters outlines New Zealand First's approach to international affairs.

• Author: Peters, Winston

New Zealand faces a challenging situation in a world of giants. National self-preservation must be the ultimate goal. We must ensure our security and stability in an increasingly uncertain international environment. New Zealand must look to its relationships with our traditional allies and give priority to the South Pacific. New Zealand needs to play a deft hand, and to do so it must have the requisite resources, especially of diplomats. New Zealand must have an effective, professional and well-resourced foreign service to protect New Zealand's interests. It needs to have people with the training, the experience, the judgment and the intellectual capacity to handle very complex and fluid situations.

The topic 'New Zealand and the World: Challenges We Must Meet' is a big canvas. As it suggests, it concerns a perspective on global issues and the increasing importance of our foreign relations and how we respond. However, at the outset it is appropriate to make a few remarks about the botched micro-meddling restructuring of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The misconceived reorganisation of MFAT was worse than just an exercise in incompetence and bungling, it was insulting because, looking back on my term as minister of foreign affairs, the staff of MFAT were always fully professional, very experienced and totally committed to serving New Zealand. Of course, no organisation is immune from change. And, as Disraeli observed, 'in a progressive organisation change is constant'. But as the old saying has it--you do not burn your house down to cook a meal!

When we look out on the world we realise what a fortunate country New Zealand is. In the context of the globe we are a small state. And certainly, we are in proximity to many small states in the South Pacific. We are in a world of giants--the United States, China, India and Indonesia and many others. The ultimate challenge of our external relations policy is simple and stark and really the same as any other nation state's. It can be summed up in three words: national self preservation. When it is all rendered down, it is about ensuring our security and stability in an uncertain world.

And arguably that world is growing more uncertain. The sources of stress around the world are manifold--and many consider they are growing in intensity:

* population growth

* climate change

* poverty

* dislocation to the world economy occasioned by the Western financial crisis

* corruption

* terrorism.

And...