NZ US Council to Sponsor New Study on Relations With the United States

A major new study of the United States-New Zealand bilateral relationship aimed at helping to further strengthen connections between the countries was announced in Washington DC today.

The NZ US Council is co-sponsoring the study which will be undertaken by the highly influential US think-tank the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC in collaboration with the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA).

Entitled Pacific Partners: the future of US-New Zealand Relations the study is being funded by the Council and its counterpart organisation the US NZ Council based in Washington DC. A press conference to announce the study was due to take place in Washington on Thursday 9 September with Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and New Zealand Ambassador Rt Hon Mike Moore both in attendance.

“The Pacific Partners study will be significant and will form an important part of the discussions at next February’s US NZ Partnership Forum” said NZ US Council Chairman Rt Hon James Bolger ONZ.

“We expect the study to help us chart a new course for the relationship building on an already strong foundation.”

The study will take an in-depth analysis of current levels of bilateral activity and the potential for growth in five critical areas of co-operation. These are trade and investment; security; science, technology and education links; socio-cultural ties and transnational issues (such as climate change, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, nuclear non-proliferation, and global health).

Preliminary findings from the study are to be discussed in two seminars to be held in Washington in October and in Wellington in November. The results of the study will then be presented at the fourth NZ Partnership Forum which will take place in Christchurch on 20-22 February 2011.

Mr Bolger said the Council was delighted that CSIS had agreed to undertake the study in conjunction with a team of leading New Zealand experts brought together by NZIIA.

“CSIS is Washington’s premier think tank on foreign policy and security studies. We are also very pleased that the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs is lending its support and expertise to this study”.

The NZ US Council has assembled a high level group of eminent New Zealanders to join a similar group of Americans in providing an Advisory Board for the study.

The New Zealand Advisory Board members are former Prime Minister and Council Chairman Rt Hon James Bolger; former Foreign Minister and Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt Hon Don McKinnon; former Minister of Foreign Affairs and current NZIIA President Hon Russell Marshall; former Trade Minister Hon Jim Sutton; and former Ambassador to Washington Dr John Wood.

The American Advisory Board members are CSIS President John Hamre, US-NZ Council President John Mullen, Hon. Rick Larsen (D-Washington) and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Other members are pending confirmation.

“New Zealand and the United States share fundamental values and interests. With the relationship having entered a new stage of its development in recent years, a study of this type will be both timely and relevant to politicians, officials, business leaders and other stakeholders as we consider how the relationship can be enhanced to meet new global challenges” concluded Mr Bolger.

ENDS

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