Australia, New Zealand Hold Annual Leaders Meeting

Sydney: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met in Sydney this morning for their first annual Australia New Zealand Leaders Meeting.
 
"It was great to meet with Prime Minister Albanese again further cementing the close renewed relationship between Australia and New Zealand," Ardern said in a press release on Fruday.
 
"It is important that we are able to continue to communicate freely and coordinate across the full spectrum of domestic and international issues. In what is an increasingly uncertain and risky geostrategic environment, having close friends that share values and work together is more essential than ever for the security and well-being of our citizens and the region," she said.

The pair discussed changes to the situation of New Zealanders in Australia including ways to streamline New Zealanders access to Australian citizenship with agreement to identify options by ANZAC Day 2023; cooperation and engagement in the Pacific region, climate change and the responsibility on countries to commit to ambitious climate change action; and respective responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
 
"New Zealand is a proud pacific nation, and with the Pacific Islands Forum next week, we discussed in detail our shared view that the perspectives and priorities of Pacific island countries need to guide all regional engagement," she stated. 
 
"New Zealand has also reiterated our commitment to support COVID-19 recovery, regional prosperity and security, including through joint support for high-quality, climate-resilient infrastructure, and will be discussing with other pacific countries how we can continue to support the region," she added.
 
The leaders agreed economic ministers should meet later in the year to explore opportunities to support trans-Tasman businesses and consumers to further accelerate the economic recovery for both countries.
 
As a demonstration of the reset of the relationship, the two countries also agreed to annual formal bilateral meetings between their Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance and Climate Change.

 
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