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

There is a community of around 4,500 people of Greek descent (first, second and third generation) in New Zealand.  Greece is a popular tourist destination for New Zealanders, with 2,740 travellers listing Greece as their main destination of travel in 2014 and many more arriving via other countries.

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.

• Trade
• Embassies
• Recent official visits

Trade

2014 statistics

Embassies

• New Zealand is represented in Greece by the New Zealand Embassy in Rome
• Greece is represented in New Zealand by an Embassy in Wellington

Recent official visits

New Zealand visits to Greece

• Rt Hon Jim Bolger – Prime Minister’s Special Envoy – September 2013
• Hon Wayne Mapp – Minister of  Defence – May 2011
• Hon Murray McCully – Minister of Foreign Affairs – April 2011

Greece visits to New Zealand

• Kostas Karamanlis, Prime Minister, May 2007