ASEAN-New Zealand Relations Get a Boost

On October 23, New Zealand officially opened its diplomatic mission to ASEAN in Jakarta. While the move was expected, it is a well-timed boost for both sides as they look to advance their relationship further in 2015.

The Mission was opened by New Zealand’s Trade Minister Tim Groser while on his visit to Indonesia, where he also highlighted renewable energy cooperation between companies in Wellington and Jakarta. In a government press release, Grosser described the move as a “significant demonstration” of New Zealand’s commitment to lift ties.

To be sure, move itself was hardly a surprising one. Last year, New Zealand’s newly appointed ambassador to ASEAN Stephanie Pamela Lee reiterated that Wellington would establish a mission to ASEAN in 2015 as part of its ongoing effort to deepen ties with ASEAN. In finally doing so, New Zealand joins a growing list of countries which have established resident missions in Jakarta, which houses the ASEAN Secretariat (the United States was the first non-ASEAN country to establish such a mission back in June 2010).

But as Grosser himself acknowledged, the opening also comes at a significant time for ASEAN and New Zealand in particular. It has been 40 years since New Zealand became one of ASEAN’s first dialogue partners back in 1975. Such anniversaries – similar to ones that ASEAN has had in recent years with Japan, India and China – often provide an opportunity to take stock of the relationship and advance it even further.

The two sides already have a strong relationship. Economically, ASEAN is New Zealand’s fourth largest trading partner, and therefore what Groser described as a “pillar” of Wellington’s overall trade. The two sides inked the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area agreement (AANZFTA) back in 2009, and Wellington announced a regional strategy called NZ Inc ASEAN – launched by its prime minister John Key in 2013 – to further boost trade and investment with individual Southeast Asian countries and the grouping as a whole.

Beyond this, New Zealand is involved in a range of political and security issues as an active participant of ASEAN-led forums like the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) and the East Asia Summit (EAS), including energy, disaster management and education. Counterterrorism is a growing area of ASEAN-New Zealand cooperation amid the rise of the Islamic State threat. For instance, next January New Zealand will be one of the eight ASEAN dialogue partners participating in a two-day meeting hosted by Malaysia and focused on the rehabilitation of terrorists. New Zealand has also mulled taking in more Rohingya migrants to help Southeast Asia deal with its refugee crisis.

But both sides have been talking about how to advance ASEAN-New Zealand relations still further. The key marker for the future development of the relationship will be when the two sides meet for a commemorative summit in November in Malaysia, which holds the rotating ASEAN chair this year. Apart from a series of celebratory activities, the summit is also expected to review past achievements and discuss ways to improve ties.

While the specifics of what will be announced are not yet available, the general outlines are clear based on discussions that have gone on in meetings this year, such as the 22nd ASEAN-New Zealand Dialogue held in Auckland March and the ASEAN-New Zealand Joint Cooperation Committee Meeting which took place at Jakarta in July. Areas for future collaboration that have been emphasized include maritime cooperation, transnational crime, small-and-medium enterprise (SME) development, education and vocational training, food security, connectivity, climate change and disaster management.

Apart from new areas of cooperation, the two sides have been looking to expand New Zealand’s capacity-building initiatives for ASEAN member states in areas such as agricultural trade and business leadership as well as redouble efforts to effectively implement the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) agreement, including reductions in non-tariff barriers to trade ahead of next year’s review of the pact. Steps to advance cooperation will be included in a new forward-looking plan of action to be adopted for ASEAN-New Zealand relations for the next five years (2016-2020).

In a speech launching the NZ Inc ASEAN strategy back in 2013, Key stressed that ASEAN was one of the “most important parts of the world” for New Zealand. A new mission in Jakarta is both a further demonstration of the importance Wellington attaches to the region as well as a boost in its ongoing efforts to enhance its engagement there.