Deputy PM and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters is no stranger to the Pacific, having gone on Pacific missions in previous years, including in 2018 (pictured). Photo / Michael Craig
Deputy PM and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters is no stranger to the Pacific, having gone on Pacific missions in previous years, including in 2018 (pictured). Photo / Michael Craig
Maintaining New Zealand’s relationship with the Pasifika region and its peoples will be at the forefront ahead of the new Government’s first mission to the Pacific this week.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is travelling to Tonga tomorrow, before heading to the Cook Islands and Samoa under his role asMinister of Foreign Affairs.
He will be joined by Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti, who also holds the health portfolio. This will be his first trip to the region as the Pacific minister.
“New Zealand has deep and longstanding cultural links with the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga and I am looking forward to reinforcing those - as well as discussing the shared issues our communities face in New Zealand and the Pacific; particularly in health,” Reti said.
The health minister is expected to visit at least one hospital and will meet with health officials from each of the three countries to talk about Aotearoa’s ongoing role in working together to deliver on long-term health priorities, both nationally and regionally.
It is understood those talks will include a specific focus on the impacts of Covid-19 in the region.
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti, also the health minister, will be looking closely at the health sector on the trip. Photo / Hagen Hopkins
Peters is no stranger to the Pacific and its communities; having travelled frequently to various Pacific Island countries in previous years - also as foreign minister.
On that trip, Rabuka told media that it was good to have someone in Wellington who was a “friend of the Pacific and a person of the Pacific.”
Winston Peters no stranger to the Pacific
Speaking about the trip this week, Peters said it was an opportunity for New Zealand to continue to strengthen and progress bilateral co-operation with the respective three Pacific countries, while also supporting development goals in each of those countries.
Fijian prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka told Winston Peters and reporters it was good to have someone who was "a friend of the Pacific and a person of the Pacific". Photo / Koroi Hawkins
“New Zealand enjoys strong and long-standing relationships with our Pacific partners - especially in Polynesia, where we have close political, economic and people-to-people ties,” he said.
“Given New Zealand’s place and influence in the region, our visit will also reinforce our commitment to collectively responding to the many and varied strategic issues and challenges facing both the Pacific and the wider indo-Pacific.”
The ministers and a media delegation will leave tomorrow evening and land in Tonga; ahead of a meeting with Tongan officials.
They are also scheduled to meet with Cook Islands PM Mark Brown and Samoan PM Fiame Naomi Mata’afa.
Their schedule includes visits to a number of sites built or maintained by New Zealand aid; as well as visiting various cultural, community and political leaders, including Samoa’s Head of State Tuimaleali’ifano Va’aletoa Sualauvi II.
Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and picked up the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.
