Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced he will travel to Egypt and Europe over the next week — emphasising he would be meeting with New Zealand’s “traditional partners”.
Peters will attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels and undertake bilateral visits to Egypt, Poland and Sweden. He departs the country this Saturday.
“This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” he said.
“Since taking office late last year, the Coalition Government has emphasised the importance we place on New Zealand’s traditional security partners.
“New Zealand can only protect and advance our interests by working with traditional partners with whom we have a shared strategic assessment of the challenges the world faces.
“This visit, including through my attendance at the NATO foreign ministers meeting, will progress those traditional partnerships.”
Peters said the war in Gaza would also be a focus of his upcoming travel.
“New Zealand is part of an overwhelming international consensus demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza,” he said.
“This travel will allow us to share information and perspectives with a range of interested parties and coordinate on broad international action.”
Peters will have programmes in:
- Cairo, Egypt, April 1, including meetings with foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul-Gait
- Warsaw, Poland, April 1, including meeting with foreign minister Radosław Sikorski and a visit to Ukraine House, an organisation that helps Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw
- Brussels, Belgium, April 3-4, including attendance at the NATO foreign ministers meeting, alongside counterparts from Australia, Japan, Korea and the European Union
- Stockholm, Sweden, April 5-6, including meeting with foreign minister Tobias Billström.