Rt Hon Winston Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Foreign Minister Winston Peters is travelling this week to Bangkok for talks with his Thai counterpart, and to Jakarta to attend the inauguration of Indonesia’s next President, Prabowo Subianto.

“NewZealand is committed to our Comprehensive Partnership with Indonesia, and our shared ties as democracies in the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr Peters says.

“It is important we show our strong support for the transition of power in the world's third largest democracy.”

Mr Peters will also express New Zealand’s appreciation for Indonesia’s assistance in securing the recent release of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, who was held hostage in Papua, Indonesia.

Before travelling to Indonesia, Mr Peters will visit Thailand to meet with his Foreign Minister counterpart to advance discussions on lifting the Thai-New Zealand bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026.

“Our engagement with Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa will underline the importance we place on our partnership with Thailand,” Mr Peters says.

“The Coalition Government is seriously focused on boosting NewZealand’s engagement with Southeast Asia. Since taking office we have been backing up our words with action.

“Thailand will be the seventh member of ASEAN that we will have visited this year.”

While in Bangkok, Mr Peters will engage with key Thai political and business leaders and NewZealand alumni and meet with NewZealand businesses active in Thailand.

Mr Peters will return to NewZealand on 21 October.

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