Look more to Asia for our future, Key insists

John Key has made it clear since he became Prime Minister that as a small trading nation, New Zealand has to look more to Asia and less to our old partners to secure its livelihood.

At the weekend at the East Asia Summit (EAS) in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, he pushed that message relentlessly.

The five-year-old summit is one of a number of trade and regional co-operation forums New Zealand participates in.

Perhaps the most important to date has been Apec (the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation), which meets in Japan next month.

But what sets the EAS apart is its increasing concentration of the world's biggest and fastest-developing economies. The summit became more important this year with confirmation the US and Russia are to become members.

That concentration of regional leaders could provide the best forum yet for dealing with trade and security issues.

However, Mr Key acknowledges the summit is unlikely to provide immediate solutions to its members' problems, or their rivalries, including those between China on the one hand and the US and Japan on the other.

Overt discussion of those tensions was conspicuously lacking in Hanoi.

These are big issues for a small country such as New Zealand to grapple with, but Mr Key appeared to enjoy mixing with leaders to discuss them and said that despite our size, we could play a useful role in assisting the main players to seek solutions.

While the lengthy formalities and set-pieces in Hanoi's grandiose National Convention Centre might have given the impression the summit is little more than an elaborate talkfest, it has already paved the way for the Asean Australia New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (Aanzfta).

This pact, which came into force this year, is expected to boost NZ exports by several billion dollars a year over time.

It is hoped Aanzfta could be widened to include all the summit members - including China, Japan, South Korea and India - in what would be known as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia.

At the weekend, Mr Key met Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, India's Manmohan Singh and Japan's Naoto Kan.

At Saturday's summit lunch, he sat next to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, which led to initial talks about a potential free trade agreement between the two countries.

EAST ASIA SUMMIT

* Established in 2005.
* A forum for dialogue on strategic, political and economic issues.
* Members are the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean): Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
* As well as: Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand.