Greece

Our relationship with Greece

New Zealand and Greece share a warm relationship with a long history based on New Zealand’s participation in the First and Second World Wars, as well as strong people-to-people connections.

In the First World War, the Greek island of Lemnos was both a staging and relief post for the Gallipoli campaign. During the Second World War, more than 7,700 New Zealand troops were part of the allied forces that fought to defend mainland Greece and the island of Crete from occupation in 1941. 1,040 New Zealand soldiers from the Second World War are buried throughout Greece.

Since 1984, Wellington has maintained a sister city relationship with Chania in Crete. This sister city relationship recognises the thriving Greek community that is prominent in Wellington.

There are around 5,000 people of Greek descent in New Zealand.

New Zealand and Greece cooperate in many multilateral fora, particularly the United Nations. New Zealand also values its relationship with Greece as a member state of the European Union.

Bilateral Agreements

Other bilateral agreements between our countries include an Air Services Agreement, Bilateral Visa Waiver Agreement, and a Social Security Agreement. These can be found on New Zealand Treaties Online(external link).  

Trade

Information on New Zealand’s trade relationship with Greece is available on the New Zealand Trade Dashboard(external link).

In July 2023, New Zealand and the EU signed a high-quality, comprehensive, and progressive Free Trade Agreement which entered into force in May 2024. As a European Union member state, Greece is party to the EU-NZ FTA. The FTA contains world-leading commitments on sustainable and inclusive trade.

Embassies

• New Zealand is represented in Greece by the New Zealand Embassy in Rome
• New Zealand has consular services in Athens
• Greece is represented in New Zealand by the Embassy of Greece
• Greece has consular services in Wellington