SpeechRt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister of Foreign Affairs): I thank the member for his review and also his questions. Going forward it's clear that every relationship is important now and no matter where it is because we're a trading nation very dependent upon our trade and our exports and we've got to be fully equipped in the new world dramatically affected by COVID to take every advantage where we can and if we can. It means also that we've got to have more people on the ground. You know when you look at a place like for example the Philippines or dare I say it India and you find that there are one or two people available only for massive populations like that you come to wonder why it is that we—and without a great deal of examination—have not been as successful as we should have been. I mean Singapore and Ireland for example have 2½ times more people in the field than we have. There is a price for not making investment in people on the ground and especially as we seek to now get our relationships in trade going. And with the non-movement of business people by airways to countries our footprint on the ground now is far more critical. I can tell you that we will be coming up short until we get more people out there particularly when businessmen can't get there and we have to try to do the job for them. So it's going to be very very hard.It also means though that there have been dramatic lessons we've learnt from COVID-19. The first is the dependence upon one market one product and one company. We had already learnt that lesson in the 1970s when the UK went off and joined the EU and left us in the lurch so to speak. It was a dramatic lesson of what dangers there are in one product and one market or one country as the customer. I know that the UK has spent the rest of the time trying to get out of the EU and they're out now but we missed the boat in learning a lesson then and we are in danger of missing it now unless we realise that our dependence on one product milk; one company Fonterra; and one market China comes with enormous dangers. You need to diversify and everyone has always said that in terms of business. So I hope we understand that.When the Minister asks therefore what are our relationships with say the United States or other countries the answer is not to downplay the importance of China or dare I say it the Chinese people in any way shape or form. They haven't been around for 3000 years because they are not a very clever and smart people. But the point is that other relationships were always important and we had let them go a long way in reverse. Let me tell you that for example the work and effort we put in personally—and with others like David Parker and dare I say it the Prime Minister—to massively improve our relationship with Japan has paid off. That's why they stepped up in terms of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and took a serious leadership role and were critical in getting it home. Our relationship has never been better with Japan. With the United States we have put in a lot of time. Despite some people's views about the United States we have worked extraordinarily hard to get a better relationship because they are the world's biggest economy and we need and we are working on and we are never going to give up seeking to get a start to a free-trade agreement with them. Our message to the Americans has been we're in a theatre the blue continent bigger than any other nation on Earth—not many people and a whole lot of island nations but it's an important geostrategic area and you cannot afford to ignore it. We can do better in this part of the world in helping this neighbourhood if you give us the economic platform to do better by giving us some consideration. Now when you take a free-trade deal with for example dare I say it Chile or dare I say it Morocco in the case of the United States we have to ask them you know What have we done wrong?" And we make it very clear that if you want us to do the right things in terms of international order and spread freedom and peace and the values of our part of the world then we you and I are going to do have to do more together. So we're never going to give up and we hope to have some measure of success before too long.When it comes to the Australians well again we've worked extraordinarily hard with them because we are two beacons of hope in the Pacific. It's a huge responsibility and were it not for us I'd hate to say what would happen in the future there. So working with Australia has always been a very very big priority for us. But we've got fascinating new help coming in the form of Japan offering help in the Pacific. And dare I say it now Indonesia the biggest Muslim country has turned to the Pacific via New Zealand where they had their huge first international conference here just a year ago to look with new eyes at how New Zealand can help. We look with a great degree of calmness and confidence at the modern reformed Indonesian Government and the difference between that Government and past Governments and I think there's great hope as well in having that new relationship happening in our part of the world. But we've also spoken to the French we've spoken to the Canadians we've spoken to the EU and we've spoken to the British about putting more effort in our part of the world. And dare I say it I think the member when he said that the official development assistance won't be enough he's quite right. Their problem is of course debt. We have to have a good hard look—as I raised with Dominic Raab the Foreign Minister for the UK we have to have a good hard look here. It is possible that with countries like New Zealand Australia dare I say it Japan and the EU and Canada and United States we can look at that debt situation and do something about it because the outfall of COVID-19 will be devastating for them and we need to start thinking ahead now together. With respect to Brexit I'm glad he raised that because we should be first off the rank and we're doing all we can to be first off the rank and to make sure whatever rank it is the Aussies don't leave before us. Thank you."