Uplifting our Relationships in Southeast Asia
As part of the government’s foreign policy reset, New Zealand has significantly increased attention on our relationships in Southeast Asia. Kicking off this activity early in 2024, the government embarked on a high tempo of political visits with Southeast Asian countries to underscore New Zealand’s value as a trusted partner. This included the Prime Minister’s travel to Melbourne in March to meet six ASEAN counterparts and welcoming the Vietnamese Prime Minister and the Vice President of Indonesia to New Zealand.
The Prime Minister embarked on a visit to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines on April 14–20, his first international trip outside of Australia. Underscoring a whole-of-government approach to deepening regional ties, Prime Minister Luxon was accompanied by Minister of Climate Change and Revenue Hon. Simon Watts and New Zealand’s first Filipino Member of Parliament, Paulo Garcia. To enhance business ties and capitalise on private sector opportunities, the Prime Minister was joined by a business delegation of 24 senior executives from New Zealand’s top companies. To showcase New Zealand’s unique bicultural identity and culture, the delegation included a champion kapa haka group (Te Wehi Haka).
Securing Key Political Objectives
Southeast Asia is a region that has huge strategic and commercial importance to New Zealand. It’s where our security, but also our prosperity, really lies going forward.
Prime Minister Luxon
The visit was successful in achieving its primary objective — securing agreements to upgrade our bilateral relationships with Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. New Zealand secured other key objectives with each country on the trip.
In Singapore, the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Lee agreed to elevate our Enhanced Partnership in 2025 with practical cooperation in priority areas including defence, investment and the transition to a green economy. New Zealand and Singapore agreed to deepen cooperation on supply chains and connectivity, and food security negotiations were launched for an Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies.
Outcomes from the Thailand leg included an agreement to upgrade our bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership in 2026; a shared goal of tripling two-way trade by 2045; and an agreement to boost two-way tourism and re-introduce direct flights between New Zealand and Thailand.
The Prime Minister’s visit to the Philippines was the first primarily bilaterally focused visit by a New Zealand Prime Minister in over 18 years. Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos agreed to elevate the New Zealand- Philippines relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership by 2025 and agreed to a goal to grow trade by 50 percent by 2030. New Zealand and the Philippines agreed to deepen defence cooperation including working to conclude a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement.
The Prime Minister also announced a NZD$41 million contribution to the Asian Development Bank’s Energy Transition Mechanism to support clean energy transition in the Philippines, Viet Nam and Indonesia.
The Prime Minister-led mission also saw a number of tangible business deliverables announced. Examples of deals signed in the tourism, education and agriculture industries included:
There is enormous opportunity for New Zealand exporters in this region and that’s evidenced by the number of deals that were inked by our delegates during this trip, the first of many.
Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell.
- NZ Aero signed a multi-million-dollar, multi-year deal with Thai Aviation Industries Co. Ltd to supply parts to the Royal Thai Airforce.
- Air New Zealand announced an agreement to purchase nine million litres of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Neste — its biggest ever deal on sustainable fuel.
- Massey University unveiled an enhanced partnership with PSB Academy in Singapore. This will see the tertiary education provider established its first ever offshore campus.
- Plant & Food Research signed a cooperation agreement with the ADB and secured a contract with Quezon City, the largest city in metropolitan Manila to support development of traditional markets.
- Oritain announced its Southeast Asia expansion and the opening of a new office in Singapore later this year, alongside a multi-year deal with Singapore-based Ramatex.