Malaysia Official State Visit

E te kingi, e nga mana, e nga reo o tenei whenua, tena koutou katoa.

Your Majesty, Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and Your Majesty, Raja Permaisuri Agong, Hon Dato' Seri Mohammad Najib, Ministers, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.

My husband Peter and I are delighted to be here this evening and we thank you all for the kind invitation to undertake this historic State Visit from New Zealand to Malaysia.  This visit will give us the opportunity to reflect, with Your Majesties, your Ministers and others, on the quality of the relations that exist between Malaysia and New Zealand, as well as giving us opportunities to learn of Malaysia's achievements and modern character.

We appreciate very deeply the warmth of the hospitality that you have extended to us, Your Majesties, and we have already come to appreciate the friendliness of every Malaysian we meet.   I hope that we too might soon extend our welcome to you in New Zealand, Your Majesty, perhaps next year.

When I welcomed your new High Commissioner to New Zealand in Wellington just last week I told him how much I was looking forward to this visit.  As you have said it is the first State Visit to Malaysia from New Zealand.  Peter and I were here some years ago but it has taken us rather too long to return to your beautiful country.

Malaysia and New Zealand have quite a history of common endeavour and mutual regard.  Our early ties were founded on our joint security interests and New Zealand's support, under the Colombo Plan, for helping to educate Malaysian students. 

In the 1950s and 60s large numbers of New Zealand soldiers served in what was then Malaya.  Many of them were deeply affected by their experiences in your lovely country.  Many of them have been back to revisit this beautiful part of the world.

Later this week I shall visit Taiping, where a number of New Zealand servicemen are buried.  The government of New Zealand appreciates the generous offer by the government of Malaysia of the award of the Pingat Jasa Malaysia to honour former New Zealand personnel who served here during the Emergency and Confrontation.  This offer is now in the formal processes of government consideration in Wellington.

Our first New Zealand High Commissioner to Malaysia was Sir Charles Bennett, a distinguished Maori leader and soldier, who took up his post in 1958.  He was honoured by Malaysia in being awarded the title of Tan Sri.  I am told that many in Malaysia still remember him today. 

Your Majesty, over 50 years the bonds between us have grown.  We now have an active programme of bilateral defence cooperation.  We also value our participation, alongside Malaysia and our other partners, in the FPDA (Five Power Defence Arrangement).  We share many points of view on regional security matters and attach importance to extending our cooperation in meeting the many security challenges we must face in today's world.

Education, too, has forged deep and enduring ties between Malaysia's young people and New Zealanders.  Our education links today are varied in nature. We continue to look for new ways to work with Malaysia, which is now a destination of choice for students from other countries. 

Our governments have a long record of working together in regional and international affairs.  The unequivocal commitment of our countries to international peace and justice and the concern of each government to play an active role in world bodies such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the World Trade Organisation give us much in common.

Malaysia's commitment to the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) of which it was a founder member, brings an important dimension to our interaction.  New Zealand has been a Dialogue Partner of ASEAN since 1975 and recently welcomed ASEAN's invitation to New Zealand to take part in its Leaders' Summit in Vientiane in November. 

New Zealand is delighted to be working closely with ASEAN as we move towards negotiations for a regional trading arrangement between ASEAN and New Zealand and Australia.  Our commitment to a deeper engagement with ASEAN will also strengthen our links with Malaysia.

The partnership between Malaysia and New Zealand, built over many years of cooperation in development, has matured into a fully-fledged commercial and economic relationship based on equality and mutual interest.  Investments from New Zealand, for example in the early years of Universiti Malaya and Universiti Putra Malaysia, or in the Felda scheme, have outgrown those beginnings under our aid programmes.  But they were excellent investments in Malaysia's future.  And I was very interested to visit this afternoon the law faculty at Universiti Malaya.

My own interest in the law is very deep - and my husband shares it.  We look forward to meeting HRH the Sultan of Perak, in Kuala Kangsar.  The Sultan is well known in the Commonwealth as a defender of the rule of law and the highest principles of the judiciary.  He is well known as a jurist of great eminence.

This afternoon we visited the beautiful Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur.  Many New Zealanders wish to deepen their understanding of Islam, its great history and its glorious culture.  We can learn from the small but growing community of Muslims in New Zealand.  They come from very different parts of the Islamic world, including some from Malaysia.  I am told that Malaysia looks after New Zealand pilgrims performing their duty of hajj in Saudi Arabia and you have done this for many years.  I thank you for this.

These days, business flourishes between Malaysia and New Zealand.  Two-way trade in goods adds up to over 3 billion ringgit a year, with a surplus in Malaysia's favour.  Your country is a valuable supplier to New Zealand of petroleum and of electric and electronic goods.  Also, of timber and furniture and a variety of agricultural commodities and prepared foods.  This trade has been growing steadily in recent years.  New Zealand supplies Malaysia with our excellent dairy products, as well as high quality meat and other foods - all conforming strictly to halal requirements.  Aspects of this trade are reflected in investment patterns: Malaysia is a major investor in New Zealand forestry and New Zealand in the Malaysian dairy sector.

Our trade in services remains under-developed.  There is much we could do to build commercial connections, matching government priorities in both countries for ICT, for research and development that contributes to growth and innovation, in the creative industries, and to enhance productivity in Malaysian agriculture.

There is scope also to broaden and deepen our economic partnership.  New Zealand welcomed the recent agreement between our respective trade Ministers to undertake studies into the benefits that might flow from a possible Malaysia/New Zealand Free Trade Agreement. 

It is, I believe, the contacts between our people that give depth to the links between us and create the understandings that lead to genuine bonds of friendship.  In this respect, New Zealand and Malaysia are blessed by the people-to-people links that we enjoy and which form a very significant element in our relations. 

I have mentioned already the very strong links through education and today we have over 1000 students from Malaysia in New Zealand.  There are also well-established links between our universities.  Malaysia's development as an education hub in South East Asia offers scope for increased collaboration, and New Zealand education institutions are seeking new two-way approaches to ensuring our education links benefit both our countries. 

Since 1996, we have been honoured to be home to the Chair of Malay Studies at Victoria University in Wellington.  The Chair offers special opportunities for deepening Malaysia/New Zealand understanding and it represents the joint commitment of the two governments to enhance our relationships.

As you have mentioned Your Majesty, this year saw the key development in our education relations - the holding of the first New Zealand Alumni Convention in Kuching, in the state of Sarawak.  Such is the enthusiasm that a second convention will take place in Wellington in 2006.  I know that the Wellington organisers are eagerly looking forward to that event.

Your Majesty, New Zealanders see Malaysia as a country of vibrant cultural diversity where racial harmony is not simply taken for granted.  In New Zealand we understand that these issues require constant care, sensitivity and goodwill.  New Zealand is committed to addressing the unique challenges we face in building our society, a society that is changing quite rapidly.  It is interesting to note that the population of New Zealanders of Asian origin is around 7% today and by the year 2021 is likely to double. 

The absence of problems between our countries is remarkable.  The New Zealand government is committed to a stronger partnership with Malaysia in the future and we look forward to working increasingly closely, to build on our achievements, broaden the scope of our exchanges, and develop a renewed relationship with Malaysia in the years ahead.

Thank you once more, Your Majesties, for your gracious hospitality and for your welcome to both Peter and to me on this memorable visit to Malaysia.