Helen Clark in the Oval Office with George Bush in 2002. Photo / Reuters
Trade, Afghanistan and instability in the Pacific will be discussed when Prime Minister Helen Clark meets President George W. Bush for two hours of talks at the White House next week.
Her one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office on March 22 will be followed by a press conference.
She will then attend a working lunch with senior members of the Bush Administration.
Helen Clark is also expected to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It is a higher-level lineup than in 2002, when the Prime Minister last visited the White House.
Trade is expected to be raised in the talks with President Bush, but New Zealand has no expectation of getting the nod for a free-trade agreement in the short term. The President's fast-track authority to initiate trade deals expires in June.
Afghanistan and instability in the Pacific are likely to figure large in their talks, but Iraq is not expected to feature on the agenda unless President Bush raises it.
Asked yesterday about the US stance on military exercises with New Zealand over the anti-nuclear legislation, Helen Clark indicated New Zealand was not pressing for any change.
"I am satisfied we are pretty much where we need to be," she said.
"In practice, where there is a need to work together we do have, I think, a perfectly satisfactory level of co-operation. The reality is since New Zealand committed into Afghanistan there's been quite a lot of contact of an operational kind."
Helen Clark is also scheduled to meet the highest-ranking Democrat, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the Senate majority leader Harry Reid and leaders of the "Friends of New Zealand Caucus in Congress".
She will also lay a wreath at the Arlington National Cemetery.
After Washington, Helen Clark will spend a day in Chicago meeting business leaders.
She will also visit Seattle, where she will visit Microsoft and the University of Washington.
