The European community in Wellington might be small with only 7 EU-embassies, but it is thriving! Last week, we were happy to meet with six members of the European Parliament.

During this visit, both sides emphasized that despite being on other sides of the planet, we share a lot of values, culture, and attitudes. The EU and NZ have a lot of shared agenda points to bring forward. They discussed for example global issues from Ukraine to climate leadership. There also was a discussion with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade on a Maori Chapter in the EU-NZ Free Trade Agreement. 

The six MEP met Speaker Rt Hon Gerry Brownlee and Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters. They also had the opportunity to meet MPs from all different parties.

The ties between the EU and New Zealand have been growing increasingly stronger.  The succesful EU-NZ Free Trade Agreement (a 30% of growth of trade figures in only 1 year!) and NZ association with Horizon Europe are great examples of this.