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Long-Term Outcome I deals with safeguarding New Zealand’s economic and security interests. Our influence and standing in global and regional affairs is a key tool in this regard. We need to maintain and develop a network of strong relationships that we can draw on in order to achieve many of the Government’s priorities. The relationships the Ministry builds and sustains also support the work of other agencies, by facilitating access to decision-makers who can assist them in achieving their objectives, particularly where these have an offshore component.
The Ministry’s priorities are determined by the Government’s focus on economic growth, and its intention of focusing New Zealand’s diplomatic effort on Asia and the Pacific. Australia and the United States are key partners for New Zealand in these regions as well as globally.
Australia: Australia is a key foreign policy partner for New Zealand in the Pacific, in our broader region, and in helping us achieve our global objectives. Because of its larger size, it is often engaged in processes that New Zealand is not, such as international efforts to improve global financial and economic structures through the G20. Enhanced cooperation with Australia on shared foreign policy, trans-boundary and security interests, especially in the Asia-Pacific region is a key medium-term outcome for the Ministry.
Pacific: New Zealand’s long-term security depends on the security and prosperity of our neighbours. But the outlook for the Pacific is troubling. The quality of engagement by external partners, including New Zealand, will be critical for the longer-term prosperity and stability of the region. In some parts of the Pacific we also have constitutional or historical responsibilities. We therefore aim to see New Zealand’s security enhanced through improved economic growth, security, governance and quality of life in the Pacific.
Asia: There is an ongoing trend of economic activity and growth shifting towards Asia. At the same time, the Asian region has been developing momentum towards closer regional integration and community building. New Zealand needs to be well-positioned in the evolving architecture of Asian regional relationships in order to connect itself to emerging powers in the region, and ensure that it is integrated into regional political, security and economic structures. Over the last 20 years, Asia has steadily increased its share of the world’s wealth. Continuing to develop our engagement and influence in Asia therefore has global and regional implications.
United States: As the world’s most important power and largest economy, the United States is crucial for stability and economic progress throughout the world, and the relationship with the United States is an important part of the foreign policy of most countries. Ensuring that the warmth in the United States-New Zealand relationship is maintained with the new Administration will be a key objective for the Ministry.
Europe: A key priority will be to develop a new, more formal, comprehensive arrangement that consolidates and advances our broad mutual interests with the European Union.
The success of the Ministry’s approach will be demonstrated by our ability, and the ability of other New Zealand agencies, to call on our network of relationships in order to achieve other objectives.
Specific medium-term indicators of success will be:
Australia: We will look for opportunities to work together with Australia on key regional and international issues, particularly in the Pacific. Taking forward the Single Economic Market and deepening economic integration between the two countries also offers opportunities to work more closely together.
Pacific: We will continue to actively support Pacific countries’ initiatives to improve governance including sound economic and trade policy settings. We will increase our focus on initiatives that support economic growth and bolster private sector activity.
Asia: We will continue to engage with key North Asian countries, particularly China, Japan and Korea, including through high-level visits in both directions. We will also maintain close links to those countries with which we have had strong relationships in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia and Viet Nam, and seek to broaden our constituency in support of New Zealand’s engagement in the wider region, including India. We will participate constructively in regional forums, and encourage them to take on substantive agendas.
United States: We will actively look for opportunities to work with the new Administration where our interests are aligned. We will look to build personal connections with senior United States decision-makers, both within the Administration and in Congress. We will maintain strong support for the United States-New Zealand Partnership Forum as a key mechanism to broaden New Zealand’s influence.
Europe: We will get a process underway to deliver a more formal New Zealand-EU relationship “instrument”, including through negotiations.
A strategic priority for the Government is to promote New Zealand’s economic growth, help to build more competitive firms, and to increase the ratio of exports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP.
The Government has stressed the fundamental importance of international engagement in raising New Zealand’s productivity and growth performance. The Ministry has a key role to support external economic activity. It does this through its negotiation of trade agreements and support for trade and investment liberalisation, and furthering the transfer of skills and technology to New Zealand. It also supports exporters, particularly in those countries where there are close links between business and government. The Government has also stipulated that it wants improved coordination among New Zealand agencies represented offshore (NZ Inc). The Ministry will have a central role in facilitating this.
World Trade Organisation: Multilateral liberalisation through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the completion of negotiations as part of the Doha Development Agenda offer the prospect of long-term improvements in market access and trading conditions for New Zealand, on a global scale. In particular, WTO negotiations offer the opportunity to secure benefits for New Zealand exporters, such as the elimination of agricultural export subsidies, which are not possible in bilateral or regional negotiations.
Trade negotiations that deliver growth opportunities: A major focus of the Ministry’s current work to improve the competitiveness of New Zealand exporters is the negotiation of a network of free trade agreements, with a focus on Asia. These agreements are aimed at opening up new market access opportunities (or preserving existing market access). They directly improve the competitiveness of New Zealand exporters in key markets by reducing tariffs and other costly trade barriers. In many cases, the Ministry will act directly to remove “non-tariff” barriers to trade. Given their inter-dependency, New Zealand and Australian economic and trade relations also need to remain dynamic in this period of global recession
Internationalisation of New Zealand business: International connections are important for supporting flows in skills, capital, and ideas to New Zealand businesses, as well as being critical to growing New Zealand exports. The Ministry seeks to support and facilitate these connections by the private sector. Better coordination of government agencies offshore will assist the Ministry and other agencies to achieve their outcomes in this area.
Global financial crisis: The global financial crisis has already spurred an international response. It cannot be assumed, however, that solutions or policy responses that suit other countries will also work for New Zealand. It is important therefore that ongoing international responses to the global financial crisis accommodate New Zealand’s interests
Greater value for money from NZ Inc: With the increasing pace of globalisation, many government agencies have needed to engage more closely with their sectors internationally or regionally. This has led to their posting staff overseas to monitor and pursue their interests. Currently about one-third of all New Zealand based staff working at MFAT posts offshore are from government agencies other than the Ministry. The Government has identified NZ Inc as a key tool for growing the New Zealand economy and lifting productivity and export performance. It has also signalled that support for New Zealand exporters should be the single most important priority for MFAT posts and indicated that the network of New Zealand posts should be reviewed to ensure they are concentrating on key locations and key markets.
The success of the Ministry’s approach will be demonstrated by increased flows of skills, capital and ideas to New Zealand, and increased exports.
Specific medium-term indicators of success will be:
World Trade Organisation: The Ministry leads New Zealand’s negotiations in the WTO. We will lead work to develop New Zealand’s negotiating position with the support of other agencies, such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Economic Development. We will support our participation in negotiations with representations to governments and other key decision-makers through our network of overseas posts.
Trade negotiations that deliver growth opportunities: The Ministry is currently negotiating free trade agreements with the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Gulf Cooperation Council. We hope to soon commence negotiations with India, and with the United States, Chile, Peru, Viet Nam, Brunei, Singapore and Australia as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. We are also working to launch a joint study with Japan on a bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The Ministry leads negotiation of these agreements with support from other agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, MED and Customs. Once negotiations are complete, work continues to ensure that the agreements are effectively implemented. Implementation of the recently signed China FTA is a current priority.
Internationalisation of New Zealand business: We will work with other agencies, in particular NZTE, to support the exploitation of FTA opportunities by New Zealand companies. We will work with other agencies to shape and expand our policies and international connections in critical areas for increasing productivity such as science, education and technology transfer. We will be working with other agencies to develop greater coordination between agencies offshore in the service of New Zealand’s trade and economic interests.
Global financial crisis: We will pursue bilateral channels and ad hoc initiatives to influence relevant processes, including the G20. We will work with Treasury and other agencies to develop appropriate New Zealand responses to specific challenges.
Greater value for money from NZ Inc: The Ministry will work with other agencies over the next few months to develop proposals for more innovative, efficient and effective modes of deploying resources offshore and achieving better value for money from New Zealand’s network of overseas posts. Improving value for money from public sector expenditure will be a key objective.
New Zealand’s ongoing prosperity depends on the prosperity and security of the markets we trade with. It also depends on the willingness of other countries to respect international rules. Where common resources are concerned, internationally agreed rules are often required to avoid over-exploitation. A particular priority for the Government is the development of an international agreement on climate change that both reduces greenhouse gas emissions and accommodates New Zealand’s unique agricultural emissions profile.
International security: International security challenges threaten New Zealand’s prosperity through a number of means, including increased activity by extremist and criminal organisations, reduced growth in potential markets under stress, and “leakage” of internal security problems across borders. Not all security challenges are immediate threats to New Zealand’s interests. Conversely, security challenges are increasingly complex, and New Zealand is not able to deal effectively with security challenges on its own. We therefore have an abiding interest in effective collective responses to security challenges, in particular in our own region.
Climate change and natural resources: Internationally agreed rules regulating impacts on the environment or the use of natural resources are important in underpinning long-term global prosperity by aiming to ensure that limited resources are used sustainably. Increasing concerns about the environment are also affecting the international trading framework, particularly through the development of standards by the private sector which aim to provide information on how products are produced.
Many international environmental rules deal with issues of importance to New Zealand’s economically important primary production sector, such as climate change, biodiversity, forestry and fisheries. It is important for New Zealand therefore that environmental rules are both effective in protecting the environment, and allow for the continuing competitiveness of this key export sector.
United Nations: As a small export-dependent country, New Zealand is dependent on the rule of law. The UN system is its key institutional support. If the UN is to become more effective and accountable in facing global challenges, reform will be necessary.
Disarmament and arms control: Over many years of diplomatic effort, New Zealand has built up a profile and influence on nuclear disarmament that provides us with the ability to make a distinctive contribution to global efforts to reduce risks from this threat to international peace and security. In our own region, threats from the proliferation of conventional weapons, in particular small arms, are of more immediate concern. Effective international approaches to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and more effective controls over conventional weapons are key objectives of the Ministry.
In some of these contexts, such as responses to international security challenges, measures of effectiveness can be a matter of judgment. The Ministry is continually evaluating these issues as part of its policy advice. We also consider the views of key foreign policy partners in arriving at these judgments.
Specific medium-term indicators of the Ministry’s success in achieving these goals will be:
International security: We will support efforts to counter terrorism, including by facilitating support for counter-terrorism capacity in our region, and supporting initiatives to counter radicalisation. We will provide diplomatic and policy support to deployments by New Zealand Defence Force and other agencies in a range of peace support operations, and leverage those deployments to argue for effective responses to crises. We will contribute to conflict resolution where we can make a difference, and where broader New Zealand interests are engaged.
Climate change and natural resources: We will work with other agencies such as the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Fisheries and the Department of Conservation to develop policy and represent New Zealand’s interests in international environment forums. Priority areas will be climate change, biodiversity, marine and oceans issues, fisheries, and whales. The Ministry will also work with other agencies such as NZTE to monitor and respond to market trends in favour of environmentally sustainable products.
United Nations: The Ministry will maintain an active engagement in discussions on UN reform. We will encourage the UN system to undertake balanced and coordinated approaches to emerging global challenges. We will advocate for upholding human rights standards, and for the UN’s human rights institutions to play a credible and effective role in that process.
Disarmament and arms control: The Ministry will actively participate in a range of initiatives aimed at preventing the proliferation of WMD and in particular potential proliferation to terrorists. We will work for a credible outcome to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference in 2010 that makes progress towards nuclear disarmament. We will support the central role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in combating the proliferation of WMD, in particular during our term on the IAEA Board of Governors. We will also pursue multilateral approaches to combat the illicit trade in conventional weapons, including small arms.
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