Prime Minister Helen Clark will visit Canberra on Wednesday for her first formal meeting with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd since the Australian general election in November.

Miss Clark met Mr Rudd informally in December.

"The key thing about this visit is to get New Zealand's priorities well up the pecking order," Miss Clark said at her post-cabinet press conference today.

"Obviously, for eight years we've been working with a different Australian government. Now is the opportunity to talk to the new Australian government, formally, about things which are important to New Zealand."

Miss Clark said she expected to brief Mr Rudd on the importance New Zealand attached to the single economic market concept and the work that had been done around that.

There would also be discussions about regional issues and how the new government was refocusing foreign policy on the South Pacific.

Miss Clark will have a one-on-one meeting with Mr Rudd and then meet senior ministers in his government.

- NZPA