‘We can achieve more in the Pacific together’

New Zealand and the United States have announced further cooperation with the Pacific through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity, oceans, and fisheries research.

The renewed commitment to the Pacific follows Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ visit to Washington DC this week.

Peters met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, with discussions centred on the war in the Middle East and Aukus (the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the US).

"New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and intensively with partners who share our values and our assessment of the strategic challenges facing the region," Peters told a media conference.

Blinken said New Zealand and the United States are the closest of partners, and “we’re working together to support and advance a free and open, resilient Indo-Pacific region, with a focus on our friends in the Pacific Islands.

“New Zealand’s leadership on everything from supporting Ukraine against the aggression from Russia, the work there, its humanitarian support for people who so desperately need it in Gaza. Just last week, we were together at the meeting of the NATO foreign ministers.

“Our countries are closely joined because fundamentally we reflect and we seek to advance the same basic values and the same basic interests.

“And in a challenging time and a challenging world, for the United States, there’s nothing better than having strong partners like New Zealand. I couldn’t be more grateful for that, and Winston, to have you here,” Blinken said.

Peters said that Aotearoa would join the US in financially supporting them in the Pacific.

Before his trip to Washington, Peters was in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly where he addressed the Security Council and met with the UN president Dennis Francis and secretary-general António Guterres.

The latest funding for the practical projects includes $8.2m (US$5m) to support digital connectivity in Tuvalu, through the Pacific Connect Cable, and $8.2m to help construct an oceans and fisheries research vessel for the Pacific Community.

"The Pacific Connect Cable, which is receiving funding from the United States, Australia, and Japan, will boost the digital connectivity of a range of Pacific Island countries," Peters said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters called for shared commitment to partnering with the Pacific Islands region during his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week. Photo/supplied

"New Zealand is pleased to contribute US$5 million, at the request of Tuvalu, to deliver improved internet connectivity to the small, low-lying Pacific country."

"The oceans and fisheries research vessel will deliver vital information to Pacific Island countries to help them better and more sustainably manage their valuable fisheries resources and safeguard their oceans.”

Peters said Australia is the other major funder of this initiative. “This is a great example of trilateral cooperation by Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in the Pacific.

"New Zealand welcomes our cooperation with the United States in the Pacific including as members of the Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP),” he said.

During his Pacific tour with Minister for Pacific Peoples, Shane Reti, in December, Peters announced that New Zealand’s priority for the region is to bring unity and engagement to every island nation and to see that the Pacific Islands Forum works cohesively.

“We can achieve much more with and for the Pacific together than we can separately.”

Peters said New Zealand had an important role to play in keeping the region on a peaceful pathway.

In Suva, he met with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, the Pacific Islands Forum secretary-general Henry Puna, and Tuvalu's Prime Minister Kausea Natano.

Their talks included economic resilience, climate action, trade and tourism, labour mobility, and people-to-people links.