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 personal ties. In the First World War the Greek island of Lemnos 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. Since 1984, Wellington has maintained a sister city relationship with Chania on Crete.

There is a community of around 4,500 people of Greek descent in New Zealand.  Prior to COVID-19, Greece was a popular tourist destination for New Zealanders.  

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

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

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

Recent official visits

New Zealand visits to Greece

• May 2016: Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae – New Zealand Governor General, for the 75th anniversary of the Battle for Crete
• September 2013: Jim Bolger – Prime Minister’s Special Envoy

Greece visits to New Zealand

• May 2007: Kostas Karamanlis, Prime Minister
• June 2002: Constantinos Stephanopoulos, President