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The National Party on Foreign Policy and Trade
“Free and open trade is essential to New Zealand and under National Party policy, bilateral and multilateral trade agreements must be aggressively pursued. “We will aggressively and actively pursue all multilateral and bilateral trade opportunities with a particular focus on Japan, the United States, and Korea.”
National supports New Zealand’s military operations in Afghanistan. Defence spokesman Wayne Mapp in April this year said, “A notable example of the success of New Zealand's wider engagement is the work of our defence forces in Afghanistan, both in the Provincial Reconstruction Teams and in the Special Forces”.
National has made no mention of raising the overseas aid budget in its foreign affairs policy. It believes aid should be focused on “economic development” rather than “poverty elimination”.
According to party policy, National “will aggressively and actively pursue all multilateral and bilateral trade opportunities with a particular focus on Japan, the United States, and Korea”. National’s most recent white paper on foreign affairs says, “While fully respecting US policy positions that reflect its global interests, a future National-led Government will commit itself fully to a further strengthening of the relationship on the basis of now clearly stated policy positions of both countries, including New Zealand’s anti-nuclear legislation.”
National policy is to “aggressively and actively pursue all multilateral and bilateral trade opportunities with a particular focus on Japan, the United States, and Korea.”