New Zealand–Norway relations

New Zealand-Norway relations

New Zealand	Norway

Norway-New Zealand relations are foreign relations between Norway and New Zealand. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1905, after Norway gained independence. New Zealand's embassy in the Hague, Netherlands represents New Zealand diplomatically in Norway. Norway is represented in New Zealand by the embassy in Canberra, Australia. Around 1,400 Norwegians live in New Zealand and 929 New Zealanders live in Norway.^[1]

Territorial claims in Antarctica:

  New Zealand

  Norway

Of all the Scandinavian countries, only Norway shares a land border with New Zealand - at the South Pole in Antarctica where Norway's claim to Queen Maud Land and New Zealand's claim to the Ross Dependency meet.

International issues

New Zealand joined 11 other countries in 2006 in delivering a formal diplomatic protest to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in Oslo over Norway's plans to increase its whaling activities.^[2]

Trade

In the year ending in December of 2008, New Zealand exported goods and services to Norway to the value of NZ$ 69.2 million. The main exports included fishing vessels, lamb and mutton, aluminium, onions, apples and pears, yachts, and navigational instruments. New Zealand imports from Norway had a value of NZ$ 73 million. The main imports included fertilizers, trucks and vans, seats, medical equipment, fishing vessels, and agricultural machinery.^[3]

Reidar Sveaas, director of P&O Maritime Ltd. and honorary consul to Auckland said in 2000 that excellent opportunities existed for New Zealand to trade with the world's second largest oil-producing country, Norway.^[4]

Investment

Norske Skog of Norway operates the Tasman Mill in New Zealand. It represents one of the most prominent Norse investments in New Zealand industry.^[5][6]

Migration

Main article: Norwegian New Zealander

Norsewood in New Zealand's Seventy Mile Bush started as a Norwegian settlement in 1872.^[7][8][9] In 1881 New Zealand had 1,271 Norway-born residents, in 1901 there were 1,278.^[10]

Official visits

In over 100 years of relations, there have only been 2 state visits between these countries. In 2004, Helen Clark, became the first New Zealand Prime Minister to ever visit Norway. She said that both countries see eye-to-eye on almost everything, except, the commercial harvesting of whales.^[11][12] Other official visits have included:

New Zealand official visits to Norway

• Anne Tolley, Minister of Education, June 2009
• Margaret Wilson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, leading a Parliamentary Delegation, October 2007
• Phil Goff, Minister of Trade, Defence, Disarmament and Arms Control, January 2007
• Silvia Cartwright Governor General-designate March 2001
• Trevor Mallard Minister of Sport November 2000
• Max Bradford Minister of Energy 1997
• Don McKinnon Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade March 1996
• Rob Storey Minister of Transport November 1992

Norwegian official visits to New Zealand

• Kjell Magne Bondevik Prime Minister March 2005
• Kristin Clemet Minister of Education and Research October 2004
• Select Committee on Finance of the Norwegian Parliament March 1995
• Minister of Transport and Communications January 1995 and March 1993^[13]

See also

• Foreign relations of Norway
• Foreign relations of New Zealand

References

1. ^ "Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents". Statistics Norway. http://www.ssb.no/innvbef_en/tab-2009-04-30-05-en.html. Retrieved 2009-12-06. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "NZ urges Norway to stop commercial whaling". Xinhua News Agency. April 21, 2006. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/21/content_4457938.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-06. "'New Zealand is concerned that the Norwegian government has increased its quota to 1,052 minke whales for 2006, the highest whale take by Norway for two decades,' said Carter." 
3. ^ Norway - Country Information Paper - NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
4. ^ "Building a bridge to Norway". New Zealand Herald. May 22, 2000. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/workplace/news/article.cfm?c_id=74&objectid=137767. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
5. ^ "Norske Skog Tasman". Norske Skog Tasman. http://www.norskeskog.com/Business-units/Australasia/Norske-Skog-Tasman.aspx. Retrieved 2009-12-13. "Founded in 1952, Tasman commenced production of newsprint and kraft pulp at its Bay of Plenty mill in Kawerau, New Zealand, in 1955. Annual paper production is now over 300,000 tonnes. The mill supplies all of New Zealand’s newsprint and telephone directory requirements and also provides around 30% of Australia’s newsprint needs. The balance of production is exported throughout Asia and the South Pacific." 
6. ^ Sæthe, Bjørnar, "From National to Global Agenda: The Expansion of Norske Skog 1962-2003", in Lehtinen, Ari Aukusti, Politics of forests: northern forest-industrial regimes in the age of globalization, Organization of Industrial Space Series, Ashgate Publishing, 2004, pp. 344, ISBN 9780754641971, http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kLaXc45_Xx4C 
7. ^ "Seventy Mile Bush". Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/scandinavians/2/2. Retrieved 2009-12-13. "Scandinavians attacked this massive forest from north and south. They walked from Napier and Wellington to the Scandinavian settlements, which they themselves had to create. Their routes are marked in red on the map. The clop-clop of axes and swishing of saws soon carried through the trees, and small grass clearings began to appear in the sea of forest." 
8. ^ Arnold, Rollo (1981). The Farthest Promised Land - English Villagers, New Zealand Immigrants of the 1870s. New Zealand Texts Collection. Wellington: Victoria University Press. p. 312. http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-ArnFart-c13.html. Retrieved 2009-12-10. 
9. ^ The Norway year book. 2. Oslo: Sverre Mortensen Forlag. 1938. p. 364. http://books.google.com/books?cd=7&id=_pdBAAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 2009-12-10. "[...] Norsewood in New Zealand is a Norwegian settlement that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1922." 
10. ^ Walrond, Carl (2009-04-04). "Scandinavians - Facts and figures". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/scandinavians/5. Retrieved 2009-12-10. 
11. ^ "Whaling issue splits Norway and New Zealand in official visit". Associated Press. June 8, 2004. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-95313103.html. Retrieved 2009-12-06. 
12. ^ "No whale meat on menu as PMs meet". New Zealand Herald. June 9, 2004. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3571498. Retrieved 2009-12-06. "Helen Clark said New Zealand and Norway had common issues on many international issues but their perspectives had always been different on whaling." 
13. ^ Norway - Country Information Paper - NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade