Christopher Luxon (C) with other leaders at the ASEAN summit. Photo: RNZ / Lillian Hanly
The Prime Minister will be attending an APEC leaders dinner on Wednesday in South Korea, hosted by President Lee Jae Myung, where United States President Donald Trump is also expected to participate.
The dinner will take place on the eve of a scheduled meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping, with the potential for US and China to ease trade tensions.
Luxon will touch down in South Korea on Wednesday morning to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju this week, after concluding his visit to Malaysia for the East Asia Summit.
While in Kuala Lumpur, he finalised a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - one of only seven countries to do so - and celebrated 50 years of dialogue relations with the organisation.
Luxon said ASEAN had been a "fantastic success".
"For 50 years, Southeast Asian countries have had a vehicle and a convening mechanism to be able to deal with regional issues."
The ASEAN-NZ 50 years celebration gala lunch. Photo: RNZ / Lillian Hanly
He called it a 50-year relationship, and said New Zealand's future prosperity and security lies in the region, and he wanted to "anchor" New Zealand's future in this part of the world.
"That's why we want to be even more invested and more embedded into the region. That's what we've worked hard at over the last two years, is to build the quality of our relationships, our influence within the region."
He saw a "huge opportunity" in the developing economies that were moving lots of people into the "middle classes".
Luxon's job while in the Indo-Pacific, he said, was to "get disproportionate influence for New Zealand through these relationships".
And it wasn't just about exports from New Zealand, with Luxon pitching the country as open for business, and open for investment.
At an announcement signalling Malaysian-headquartered renewable energy company Yinson Renewables plan to invest in New Zealand with a pipeline of renewable energy projects, Luxon told the room the country had "abundant natural resources".
"In a world of a lot of uncertainty," Luxon said, "New Zealand is a safe haven for investment, and it's a great place for investment.
"We want to welcome foreign investment to New Zealand."
Malaysian infrastructure conglomerate YTL Corporation Berhad also confirmed an investment into tourism infrastructure, with the company acquiring the 225-room Hotel Indigo in Auckland in a $160 million deal. He said it was a "clear vote of confidence" in New Zealand.
Looking ahead, Luxon told reporters on Tuesday he plans to finalise a CSP with South Korea as well.
As well, his focus at APEC will be making the case "very strongly" for the rules based system, and why New Zealand wants to make its "multilateral trading relationships work".
He said he spoke to the Chinese premier on Monday night, who was feeling "confident" about the framework China and the US had in place in advance of the meeting between the two presidents.
The meeting will be an attempt to ease tensions after Trump threatened new 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods starting next month, after China tightened exports on rare minerals.
Luxon said having the two biggest economies in the world look to de-escalate would give a lot of certainty to everyone else.
"Otherwise, it creates chaos and it creates a lack of certainty and a lack of clarity. As a result, businesses don't invest and consumers don't spend.
"That's the second and third order consequences of the US and China not working together for mutual benefit."
Luxon will attend the APEC Ceo summit later on Wednesday, before attending the dinner where he may have the opportunity to speak with President Trump.
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