Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who Luxon would meet with later in the week as the sole political leader from the Indo-Pacific Four present at the big security meeting at the Hague, also had a strong career at Unilever before becoming Dutch Prime Minister.
Rutte held that role for almost 14 years before taking up the security alliance leadership in October 2024.
Further insights into the Unilever style were shared: I was pointed to a Dutch magazine which acknowledged Unilever disproportionally produces leaders as it invested in leadership development long before it became fashionable, and recruitment always factored in more than IQ alone – soft skills and aspects like motivation, personality and worldview.
Unilever also used to hire a surplus of management trainees which hence had to compete; people were often thrown into the deep end by being sent overseas, and because of the surplus, good managers ended up elsewhere as well.
In Leiden there was business to do.
Luxon worked a room stacked with representatives of Kiwi firms based in the Netherlands and potential Dutch investors in NZ.
There was keen interest from the private equity players and investors I spoke with in the Government’s drive to increase foreign investment in NZ and to leverage the ground-breaking EU-NZ Free Trade Agreement.
This is important as the Government seeks to obtain broader-based investment in NZ.
This will be emphasised later this year at the European Business Summit, which is expected to attract participation by potential investors from Europe.
The Prime Minister is now in his sweet spot on these international sojourns. He is a practised hand when it comes to putting his hustle on.
That was evident at his earlier business meetings in Shanghai and Beijing where he promoted NZ dairy and beef products, tourism and more.
His meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang were highly successful.
It was obvious at the Great Hall of the People that he had struck a warm accord with both leaders – the body language spoke to that along with flattering comments from the president.
At the Nato dinner he was placed with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Nato meeting was essentially a drum roll for US President Donald Trump off the back of the US bombing Iranian nuclear facilities and his efforts to bring Israel and Iran back to negotiations.
The European partners in Nato have agreed to increase their defence budgets at Trump’s urging.
The meeting between Rutte and Nato’s Indo-Pacific partners – NZ, South Korea, Japan and Australia – was more vanilla.
Rutte’s statement indicated Nato and the Indo-Pacific Four were committed to strengthening dialogue and co-operation, based on shared strategic interests and common values, and on the recognition that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific is interconnected.
Rutte expressed Nato’s gratitude to the Indo-Pacific partners for their “steadfast support” to Ukraine and Flagship Projects.
Where Nato and the Indo-Pacific Four will concentrate is on learning from each other on key topics, including the security of supply chains, development, production and procurement processes.
They will look to collaborate on projects to deliver capabilities including in the space and maritime domains, and in the area of munitions.
There will also be co-operation with Nato on emerging and disruptive technologies and opportunities to foster co-operation on innovation through relevant actors, including dual-use start-ups.
It seems clear from the Nato statement that the interoperability of NZ’s forces with the Western security alliance will also be pursued with the potential to create collaborative defence industrial opportunities.
This is heady stuff.
Luxon returned to NZ yesterday after 12 days on the road.
He is faced with declining polls, the need to engage more with the senior business community through listening and to ensure domestic issues like NZ’s energy security are solved.
He’s done a good job on the global stage - there is now work to be done at home.
