Minister of Defence Ron Mark signed a Memorandum of Arrangement Concerning Defence Cooperation with China’s Minister of National Defence, General Wei Fenghe in Beijing.

The Ministers signed the arrangement following their bilateral meeting, in which they reviewed the state of the defence relationship.

“China and New Zealand cooperate across a range of areas. This arrangement provides a strong framework under which we can continue this cooperation. It recognises our ongoing intention to maintain dialogue across a range of levels in the defence relationship, to build our understanding of each other and promote positive links between our people” said Ron Mark.

The Arrangement recognises some specific areas of common interest, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as international peace cooperation activities.

“From my discussions and the signing of this arrangement, it is clear to me that our two defence establishments can achieve a lot together”, commented Minister Mark. “We already share commitments to United Nations peacekeeping missions, most notably in South Sudan. Our militaries are also conducting joint planning activities to ensure we work together effectively on disaster relief.”

“With the increasing impacts of climate change being felt in our region and globally, most notably through damaging weather events, these strong relationships will be key in ensuring any combined support we provide is effective”.