Wellington, May 14 (AseanAll) — At the invitation of the Government of New Zealand, the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, paid a working visit to Wellington and Auckland, from 11 to 14 May 2025.

During the visit, the Secretary-General engaged with a broad range of New Zealand Government representatives across the four themes of the ASEAN–New Zealand relationship, namely Peace, Prosperity, People and Planet, including New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, the Minister of Defence Judith Collins KC, the Erica Stanford Minister of Education, the Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr. Shane Reti, and the Minister of Climate Change Simon Watts.

The Secretary-General also engaged with other Government Officials, the business community, including the ASEAN-New Zealand Business Council, student representatives, academia, think tanks and the media.

Across these engagements, both sides discussed the significance of the enduring partnership between ASEAN and New Zealand over the past five decades. Both sides emphasised the importance of upholding and strengthening ASEAN Centrality in the Indo-Pacific and the rules-based regional architecture, of strengthening the East Asia Summit as the premier Leaders-led strategic forum in the region, and the importance of practical cooperation on the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.

The working visit underscored the significance of 2025 as an important milestone in the ASEAN–New Zealand relationship, marking 50 years of dialogue relations. Both sides look forward to the ASEAN–New Zealand Commemorative Leaders’ Summit in Kuala Lumpur, in October 2025, and welcome progress towards establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership this year, that is substantive, meaningful, and mutually beneficial.

Finally, both sides welcomed the complete implementation of the current ASEAN–New Zealand Plan of Action and looked forward to developing a new 2026–2030 Plan of Action that contributes to the peace, stability and prosperity of our region.