Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters visit to Fiji in December 2023. Photo: Koroi Hawkins
New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters is leaving to Fiji tonight for his first stop in a four nation Pacific tour.
Peters, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, will continue north on Sunday to the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and then Palau.
He is aiming to visit all 17 Pacific Islands Forum member nations in under a year.
By the end of the trip, he would have been to 14, with New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Kiribati still to go.
"We had set our minds to fill a void of non-contact we believe was there when we got to government in November," Peters said.
"Our neighbourhood is important to us in terms of our long-term security and long-term interests."
When asked if China's growing influence in the region was driving him to visit all the nations, Peters said the region was a focus when he was last the foreign minister in 2017.
"A lot of people think that charity begins at home but in your long-term interest as a country, you neglect your neighbourhood at your peril."
Peters is taking a cross party delegation, which he has also done in other instances.
Labour Pacific Caucus chair Jenny Salesa, National MP Tim van de Molen and Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono will be part of the mission.
Peters said it is to ensure Pacific nations understand despite who is in Parliament "we face the world together".
"Politics, when it comes to foreign affairs should be bipartisan, as best as we can make it."
He said because of its "cultural and historical DNA", New Zealand knows as much about the Pacific as any other country.
"We need to build a trusted partnership, not just with the countries of the blue continent but all those countries that wish to deal with countries in the blue continent, if they want information and want help they can approach New Zealand to be a confidential and trusted adviser."
The visit to Fiji will coincide with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Suva.
It is the last PIF meeting before the PIF Leaders Meeting in Tonga later this month.
Many of the Pacific nation's leaders double as foreign affairs ministers, including incoming chair and Tonga Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni.
Hu'akavameiliku is acting Foreign Minister for Tonga after the previous minister, Fekita 'Utoikamanu, stepped away following King Tupou VI (the sixth) disapproving his appointment.
He told RNZ Pacific he will be briefing the group at the meeting on the PIF agenda and taking any issues they have to the PIF table.
North Pacific
The last stand-alone ministerial-level visit to the North Pacific was the 2007 Pacific Mission led by Peters which included the Marshall Islands.
Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau all have Compact of Free Association (COFA) agreements with the US.
The agreements give the US military access to the nations, which in return are given financial assistance and the right to work in the US.
The latest COFA agreements were signed into law in March which cover the next 20 years of US funding, but it came after a five-month delay.
RNZ Pacific Marshall Islands correspondent Giff Johnson at the time said the nations were "back-burnered" and it was "pretty typical" of how Washington treats Pacific Islands.
Palau has its general election this year.