The Prime Minister has been visiting New York and Washington in the last few days. While in New York, he visited the United Nations. He is trying to gain a seat in the Security Council for New Zealand. In October, the United Nations will vote for two countries to join the Security Council for two years. Three countries – Turkey, Spain and New Zealand – hope to be one of those two countries. New Zealand hosted a party in New York for United Nations officials and recently has hosted 62 United Nations officials in New Zealand.
John Key also had lunch with Bill Clinton while in New York.
Then Mr Key went to Washington where he had a busy time with many meetings. He also visited President Obama in the White House. He has a good relationship with the President, partly because they both have a holiday house in Hawaii where Mr Obama and Mr Key played golf together last Christmas. John Key invited President Obama to New Zealand soon and the President replied that he would love to come, perhaps before or after the G20 meeting in Brisbane. However, the President has a very full diary of events. The two men talked about Iraq and John Key said that New Zealand would not send soldiers; however, he said that New Zealand may help with more peace-keeping in countries where there are troubles.
Note:
- The Security Council consists of 5 permanent members – Russia, China, UK, USA and France – and 5 other countries (representing different regions) for a period of two years.
- The G20 consists of 19 countries plus the European Union. New Zealand is a guest country this year.