4 April 2005 Media Statement

Prime Minister to attend 90th anniversary commemoration at Gallipoli

Prime Minister Helen Clark will be attending the 90th anniversary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli on 25 April. She will also be making official calls in Turkey, and making brief official visits to Thailand, Poland, and Germany.

In Bangkok, Helen Clark will meet with Prime Minister Thaksin, and be present for the signing of the Thailand / New Zealand CEP. She will also open a seminar for Thai and New Zealand businesspeople on the opportunities offered by the CEP.

The Prime Minister will then visit Poland to open New Zealand's first ever embassy there and meet Polish leaders. The New Zealand government recognises that Poland, as the largest of the EU's new member states and the sixth largest EU country, will be playing an important role in the EU's future development, and that it is important for New Zealand to be represented in Warsaw.

Helen Clark will then visit Krakow and lay a wreath at the Commonwealth Cemetery where 24 New Zealand servicemen are buried. Following that ceremony she will travel to the nearby Auschwitz/Birkenau concentration camps.

"It is the sixtieth anniversary year of the liberation of the camps and I wish to take the opportunity to pay New Zealand’s respects to those who died there," Helen Clark said.

In Turkey, Helen Clark will attend two days of commemorative services at Gallipoli and make official calls in Ankara, including on the President and the Prime Minister of Turkey. She will also visit the World Bank project site near Istanbul, where New Zealand earthquake engineering expertise is being used.

In Berlin Helen Clark will meet German Prime Minister Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

“Germany is Europe’s largest economy and our seventh largest export market. It is a major player in the EU and an important political and economic partner for New Zealand," said Helen Clark.

Helen Clark departs New Zealand on the evening of Monday 18 April, and returns on the morning of Sunday 1 May.

ENDS

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