Minister to attend Bali Process meeting

Next week Minister for Immigration, Dr Jonathan Coleman will be in Bali to represent the New Zealand Government at the Bali Process on People Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons.

The purpose of this visit is to represent New Zealand at the Bali Process Ministerial meeting, in order to revive and strengthen the Process.

"I am looking forward to a one on one meeting with the Australian Minister of Immigration, Senator Chris Evans," says Dr Coleman.

"The Bali Process helps New Zealand by strengthening our ability to deal with smuggling and trafficking from Asian source countries and enhancing information sharing between members, thereby reducing the possibility for criminal activity at our borders.

Despite New Zealand's geographical isolation, which mitigates our exposure to people smuggling and trafficking in persons, we treat these issues very seriously," says Dr Coleman.

Currently, the New Zealand Government is working on a Plan of Action to deal with the issue of smuggling and trafficking in people.

That Plan of Action will inform on New Zealand's latest measures to help bring an end to people trafficking and reaffirm the country's commitment to preventing and detecting people trafficking, bringing offenders to justice and offering protection and assistance to the victims of trafficking. The Plan is in the final stages of drafting and will be considered by Cabinet in the coming months.