Shared Heritage

“Canada and New Zealand may lie at opposite ends of the earth, but we are bound together by a common history,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared during John Key’s visit to the capital Ottawa, who was on his way home via Turkey having previously been at American President Barack Obama’s two day Nuclear Security Summit. “We are both peaceful and prosperous commonwealth nations that have drawn, and continue to draw, generations of newcomers to freedom and opportunity. The Prime Minister of New Zealand has always been a steadfast friend to Canada and we’re honoured therefore to host the first Prime Ministerial visit by a New Zealand Prime Minister in 11 years.” When Key visited Ottawa, trade and investment were high on his list of priorities to discuss with his like-minded counterpart, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said the Ottawa Citizen’s Jennifer Campbell. Asked about the Trans-Pacific Partnership— a trade agreement that began in 2006 with New Zealand, Brunei, Chile and Singapore, but is now negotiating with other countries, including the United States — New Zealand High Commissioner Andrew Needs said it’s an important one for New Zealand and it did come up in discussions between the two leaders. “We see it as something that’s important for New Zealand to move to a whole new level of trade and economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.” New Zealand will also contribute $685,000 to a Canadian-led project which aims to help prevent the illicit trafficking of nuclear and radiological materials. Key spent 40 minutes with American Vice President Joe Biden who said New Zealand’s relationship with the United States was at the highest point it has been in years. Prime Minister John Key’s next meeting was with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara ahead of ANZAC day commemorations.