Speech
State Banquet Korea
E nga mana, e nga reo, o nga hau e wha
Nga mihi nui ki a koutou no Aotearoa.
Your Excellency President Roh, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
In the words of our native Maori language, I greet you all.
It is a great honour for me and my husband Peter to be here this evening.
This is our first time in Korea and can I say that I have been looking forward to this visit with immense anticipation. I have heard so much about your beautiful land from friends and colleagues. Our Prime Minister has been here five times and, from her impressions alone, I feel I already know Korea just a little bit.
One of the things the Prime Minister mentioned to me was the new war memorial at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan. The memorial is a tribute to the sacrifice and service New Zealanders made to helping secure peace on the Korean Peninsula. The memorial also stands as a permanent symbol of the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two nations, in the past and in the years ahead.
New Zealand attaches great value to its friendship with Korea. The partnership between our two countries, already substantial and wide-ranging, continues to expand. Korea today is one of New Zealand's most important bilateral partners. Korea is our seventh largest trading partner and has been so for over a decade. It is our second largest source of foreign students and our fifth largest source of tourists. Korea is also a priority science and technology partner for New Zealand, and a significant source of migrants.
We value our trade, science and technology links. We value the migrants and the visitors who come to New Zealand from Korea. They forge human bridges between our two countries. Our film industries are cooperating, and we have sister city links. We work closely together in many international and regional settings.
High-level visits are an important link in any relationship. We welcome Korean Ministers and senior officials in our country. The visit by your Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon in 2004 was a highlight and his keynote address to the business community remains a beacon as we continue to construct the vision for our bilateral future. Your Excellency, I would at this point like to extend a warm invitation to you to visit New Zealand during your term in office. We have much to show you and would be honoured if you would find the time to make your way to our beautiful country.
Your Excellency, New Zealand continues to share your aspirations for a prosperous, peaceful, stable and nuclear free Korean Peninsula. We are also aware of the need to make the most of the strong links between our two countries. We need to keep thinking about how we can use the strength of our friendship to take it into new and exciting areas in the years ahead.
In anticipation of even greater things to come from the relationship between our two countries, I would like to propose a toast to the people of the Republic of Korea and to a future which takes us into a new and challenging era of partnership.