PM's speech at opening of NZ embassy in Brazil

Speech by Rt Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand, at the official opening of the New Zealand embassy in Brasilia, Brazil

Monday, 19 November 2001

It is a great pleasure to welcome you onto this small but important piece of New Zealand in Brazil for the Official Opening of the New Zealand Embassy. I am delighted to be here today in Brasilia for this very special occasion.

We have just witnessed a hiki tapu, the traditional opening ceremony Mäori perform at the opening of a new whare, or house. For Maori the ceremony is a way of cleansing the new building and the land on which it stands of any negative influences. It is an acknowledgment of the opening, it conveys a sense of well-being and it is an expression of the unique culture of Maori. I thank the hiki tapu delegation for performing the ceremony here today.

In 1840 in New Zealand the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the Maori tribes of New Zealand and the British. The Treaty of Waitangi became the foundation stone of modern New Zealand.

It has shaped and is shaping our national identity. Our delegation here in Brazil reflects the partnership which has developed between the indigenous people and other New Zealanders who were later arrivals. Brazil’s population, like New Zealand’s, is composed of indigenous peoples and peoples of many other cultures.

When I met President Cardoso in Santiago in March last year, I outlined my desire to develop a more forward looking set of policies for New Zealand’s relations with Brazil, and with Latin America in general. I expressed my hope that New Zealand would be able to open an Embassy in Brazil before the end of 2001. And here we are.

The establishment of an embassy is a most significant step in the relations between countries. Brazil and New Zealand may be separated by sea and mountains and our countries are very different in size, but the relationship is close, warm, and growing strongly in substance. Modern technology makes it easier for us to communicate.

It is a privilege to reciprocate the opening of Brazil's Embassy in Wellington five years ago, and the efforts of its hard working Ambassador. We now have a full set of tools in place to deepen and broaden our bilateral relationship. And we have a good base from which to build.

New Zealand and Brazil have a solid record of co-operation on important international issues, including disarmament, the environment, human rights and trade, and at the WTO where we are both members of the Cairns Group of agricultural exporting nations.. We jointly pursue environmental interests through what is known as the Valdivia Group. We have both spoken against and acted to curb terrorism in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the United States.

Our countries share views frequently. Two New Zealand ministers have already visited Brasilia this year, as has a parliamentary delegation. We have a trade relationship on which we can build. Two-way trade to June 2001 has been valued at NZ$168 million, making this trade relationship one of our most significant in Latin America.

I believe that relationships between countries are best built on relationships between peoples. The development of people-to-people contacts, in addition to political and trade links, has been a feature of my government’s Latin America Strategy, launched in August 2000. We are funding contacts in science, academia, the media, sports, and arts and culture. I am delighted that following a visit to Brazil by the artistic director of the New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2002, Brazil will be strongly represented at the Festival in both dance and music.

My delegation’s five days in Brazil are exciting. We have just returned from a memorable trip to the Amazon region, to visit New Zealand’s most famous sailor, Sir Peter Blake, on his exploration vessel Seamaster. Sir Peter’s mission focuses on the central importance of the world’s waters and the natural environments around them to the health of the planet. Later today I will accompany the Maori delegation to the Memorial of Indigenous People for the Festival of Lady Chiefcultural s.

Tomorrow I will meet President Cardoso and we will witness the signing of a Science and Technical Cooperation Arrangement and a Visa Waiver Agreement. On Wednesday in Sao Paulo I will speak to the Getulio Vargas Foundation and witness the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Otago University and the Foundation.
I would like to congratulate all those who have worked to make this day possible: Denise Almao and her staff, especially Jeff Langley and Annelies Windmill who made up the early post establishment team; and the Wellington based Brasilia Task Force in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, represented today by Chair Warren Searell.

New Zealand is ready to take the Brazil relationship to another level. I look forward to growing co-operation and friendship between our countries. I wish our first resident Ambassador, Denise Almao, and her New Zealand and Brazilian staff every success in their mission.

No reira rau rangatira mä.
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.