Reaffirming a strong relationship

Foreign Minister Winston Peters' speech at US Independence Day celebrations in Wellington on July 3.

Your Excellency, Ambassador McCormick, and Mrs McCormick; staff members and families of the United States Embassy; Your Excellencies and members of the Diplomatic Corps; Hon Annette King; Hon Murray McCully; Members of Parliament; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is an honour to be here tonight to mark the 231st anniversary of United States independence.

And whilst we are primarily here to join with our American friends and colleagues to acknowledge and celebrate their national day, there is another purpose.

For it is also an occasion for us as New Zealanders to reflect on our own relationship with the United States, and to reaffirm a very strong bond.

It is important that we do so, because New Zealand and the United States have a long history of working together for a secure and prosperous world.

This reflects a shared commitment to freedom and democracy; values that are enshrined in the United States Declaration of Independence, and are equally strong, bedrock values for New Zealanders.

Such values and such relationships should never be taken for granted, which is why our two countries work together on a multitude of issues of mutual and global concern.

We are both committed to combating terrorism and weapons proliferation. This aim is reflected in continuing efforts to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan, and in our respective and collective efforts to encourage North Korea to shut down the Yongbyon reactor and disable all its nuclear facilities.

We work together closely in Antarctica and on Antarctic and Southern Ocean issues.

We increasingly collaborate on issues of instability, insecurity and governance in the Pacific; not least in relation to the Fiji coup.
And we copoperate on a range of multilateral initiatives in the areas of trade, security, the environment, and human rights.

There is also much our two countries do together that does not always attract attention, but which is nevertheless important in terms of adding real substance to the relationship.

There are, for example, considerable science and technology research links, as well as a wide range of people to people contacts.

While New Zealand and the United States enjoy a long, enduring and co-operative friendship, the last year has been marked by some particularly positive developments.

The Prime Minister’s successful visit to the United States in March this year, when she met with President George Bush and senior administration officials, has undoubtedly been the highlight.

There has also been an increasing level of dialogue between our two governments at Ministerial and officials’ levels on a range of important regional and international issues.

There is now mutual recognition that we should not let our point of differences cast a shadow over the wider picture. Instead there is a joint commitment to being dynamic, cooperative, and forward-looking. These are welcome developments.

In addition, this year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of cooperation between New Zealand and United States in Antarctica; and event that saw the Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Hillary, Ambassador McCormick and other United States dignitaries visit the ice in January.

Antarctic cooperation is important, not just because it exemplifies the enduring character of our relationship, but because it is an area in which we continue to find ways to jointly respond to new challenges.

So as we celebrate United States Independence Day, it is appropriate for us to also cherish a longstanding friendship, and to acknowledge a fruitful twelve months for relations between our two countries.

Thanks to efforts on both sides, we have a solid foundation from which to further strengthen ties and be even more proactive.

Would you please now join in a toast:

“To the friendship between the United States and New Zealand, and to the President of the United States of America.”