Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has paid a tribute to the leadership of the United States in response to the invasion of Ukraine and compared countries taking a stand today to the 1930s.
"Acting on your values, in good company, really matters," said Ardern, who is due to lead a business
delegation to the United States later this month.
"On Ukraine we have been proud to work alongside democratic Governments from Europe and our own region.
"The unity of response and collective determination to resist aggression could not be clearer. Here today let me specifically acknowledge the leadership shown by the Biden administration.
"But we know that keeping the peace is not just a task for soldiers. And leadership is not just the prerogative of the great powers."
She said it was clear what was at stake.
"Russia's actions are a threat not just to the lives and freedoms of the people of Ukraine but also to the larger principles of sovereignty and self-determination that underpin nationhood," she said.
"And we will continue to stand by the people of Ukraine. After all, as the Ukrainian Prime Minister said to me at the beginning of the invasion, there is no 'big or small countries' when it comes to this war – just those countries who react."
New Zealand has so far committed $30 million on humanitarian, military, legal, and logistics, including a contribution to weapons and ammunition through funding to the UK. It has also deployed 67 defence personnel to Europe and a Hercules.
The speech was to the US Business Summit in Auckland organised by the Auckland Business Chamber and NZINC.
Trade and the opening up of New Zealand was a key theme but she also sought to put an historical perspective on New Zealand's bond with the US and to compare today's crises to the 1930s.
She compared the crises of the Great Depression and the rise of fascism leading to World War II during which time the Labour Government was in power, led by Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser with Walter Nash in finance and travelling a lot internationally.
"Those were times that forced New Zealanders – and political leaders of the day – to be clear about where they stood and, in doing so, who they stood with.
"The legacy of the Savage, Fraser and Nash governments has been on my mind.
"Because now is another of those times when we as leaders, and as a nation, are reminded of what we stand for and not just to take a stand but to act on those values.
"And it is that that helps explain New Zealand's bond with the United States, over many decades," she said.
We have held firmly to our independent foreign policy but also to our values. When we see a threat to the rules-based order we rely on, we act.
