New Zealand has enjoyed a history of genuine friendship with ASEAN for 50 years. This anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate and re-affirm the relationship, to acknowledge our shared history and emphasize our commitment to a strong future together.

ASEAN is consequential to New Zealand’s economic and security interests. New Zealand is ASEAN’s second oldest dialogue partner and over the past five decades we have established strong levels of cooperation across many areas from trade and security to culture and innovation. While we’ve come a long way, there is potential to do a great deal more together.

We have established strong formal frameworks that support our trade relationship on the one hand and regular dialogue on regional security on the other.

One example is AANZFTA, the Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand. This agreement has been in place for just over 15 years and has supported a 30 percent increase in our two-way trade with ASEAN. ASEAN is now New Zealand’s fourth largest trading partner. The AANZFTA Upgrade, which will soon enter into force, will pave the way for even further growth.

Like ASEAN, New Zealand’s prosperity fundamentally depends on trade. We value the reliability of our trade ties with ASEAN; a solid foundation from which to explore further mutually beneficial opportunities along our shared journey toward economic resilience and better living standards for our people.

Geographically, we are neighbors with a shared interest in a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. In these uncertain times, our regional connections matter more than ever.

Like our ASEAN partners, we are committed to the international rules-based order. We intend to play our part in building resilience in our neighborhood, including through active engagement in the East Asia Summit and other ASEAN mechanisms.

Our relationship extends well beyond trade and security to flourishing links in education and tourism. In education, thousands of Southeast Asian students have received Manaaki New Zealand Scholarships to study in New Zealand since the 1950s. We are pleased to count Indonesia’s Home Minister Tito Karnavian as one of our alumni. More than 175,000 Southeast Asians now live in New Zealand and these communities play an active and enriching role in our society.

In 2025, we are seeking to elevate our relationship and deepen our ties with ASEAN and its member states. Our Prime Minister emphasized New Zealand’s commitment to this relationship in last month’s speech to the ASEAN Future Forum in Hanoi.

A key part of this is our ambition to become a Comprehensive Strategic Partner (CSP).

We know that elevation to CSP must mark a step change in our relationship. What we are seeking is a meaningful, substantive shift that will benefit both sides.

We want to celebrate the enduring areas of success in our partnership, including trade and economic integration, scholarships, training for the public service, knowledge sharing opportunities for young business leaders and our support for regional security activities.

But we understand that under a CSP we need to invest more, do more and contribute more. New Zealand intends to do this both through new initiatives and lifting existing collaborations in critical areas for our shared futures, such as climate resilience, energy transition, digital innovation and the green and blue economies.

While I am New Zealand’s ambassador to ASEAN, I would like to touch briefly on the bilateral relationship with Indonesia.

Indonesia is New Zealand’s closest Asian neighbor and an important leader in the Southeast Asia region. We want to work even more closely with Indonesia on issues of common interest, and deepen our two-way trade and economic cooperation.

New Zealand’s development program demonstrates our support to Indonesia’s own development goals. New Zealand’s support for the geothermal sector, dating back over 40 years, epitomizes our approach of generational development cooperation.

We see many areas where we can work more closely together, including education and enhancing our people-to-people links. Already, many Indonesian students have come to New Zealand to study and we hope many more will come.

On a personal note, I’m delighted to be in Indonesia and looking forward to building connections both locally and across the ASEAN countries.    

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The writer is New Zealand ambassador to ASEAN.