Australia offers to evacuate Kiwis

Australia has offered to help evacuate any remaining New Zealanders in Lebanon to Cyprus.

The offer was made to Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters by his Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer, at the latest round of trans-tasman talks, in Adelaide on Saturday.

The talks - held every six months - lasted almost four hours, and Mr Peters described them as "excellent".

Many issues, including ongoing efforts to support governance and stability in the Solomon Islands and East Timor to the Middle East, were discussed, Mr Peters said.

Australia's offer to help with the evacuation of New Zealanders was "generous".

"It enables us to advise our people there of how they might exit."

Mr Peters said it was important any New Zealanders in Lebanon made it known whether they wanted to avail themselves of the opportunity.

"It can't be an opportunity which can be left open for too long, so the sooner we know the better."

About 20 New Zealanders are waiting to be evacuated from Lebanon and some 45 had already left, a Foreign Affairs spokesman said.

It was better to get New Zealanders out of Lebanon away from danger and then fly them out of Cyprus, he said.

"We have got capacity now alongside Australia and the British to get our people and deal with their more immediate problems after they are out.

"I am happy with the fact we have done all we can and there will always be a chance to reconsider how effective the evacuation was later on."

It was important for New Zealanders remaining in Lebanon to be aware that every effort was being made to get them out, he said.

Talks also centred on East Timor and the Solomons and the countries' engagement there.

New Zealand and Australia, among other countries, participate in the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) keeping law and order there.

A 25-strong New Zealand police team started work alongside Australian and Portuguese counterparts in East Timor this month to try and maintain order in the troubled Dili area.

The contingent, deployed after political unrest in East Timor, was working with the New Zealand Defence Force contingent already there.

A public announcement about New Zealand's long-term commitment in East Timor was expected soon but would not be made until certain aspects of the deployments could be worked out.

Mr Peters said: "We talked about our longer-term policing and military engagements.

"Put that alongside the fact there has to be an election in East Timor by May next year and there will be announcements in the next few months."

Mr Peters said he was happy with how the discussions on Pacific rim issues had gone.

"It's very important to be on the same wavelength."

With military and police in East Timor it was important to see what our long-term plans were like compared to Australia so the countries could work in concert, Mr Peters said.

The wider picture of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and the emerging situation in East Asian political affairs was also discussed, he said.

The East Asian summit - now in its second year - and the APEC meeting are to be hosted by Australia next year.

The Foreign Ministers' consultations have been a feature of the Government-to-Government relationship for 15 years.

Mr Peters said: "We see each other in passing in parts of the world but this is our chance every six months to have quality time together and deal exclusively with issues that concern New Zealand and Australia."

New Zealand will host the next meeting, likely to be held at Waitangi in late January.

"[It's] an environment which shows a little bit of what New Zealand has to offer as well as some place they can access with the greatest of ease," Mr Peters said.

- NZPA