PM Luxon heads to Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon seeks to strengthen ties in South East Asia with six-day trip to Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines this week.

On the agenda: Infrastructure, foreign investment, export diversification, and the spill over from heightened tensions between the United States and China.

In a statement, Luxon said the region was crucial to New Zealand’s prosperity and security. The visit would help the Government deepen its relationships.

Simon Watts, Minister of both Climate Change and Revenue, and Kiwi-Filipino MP Paulo Garcia, are accompanying Luxon, alongside a business and media delegation.

This is the first major trade mission in what is planned to be a series of trips seeing him visit other countries in the region, as well as India later this year.

A senior Government official said the three countries on this trip were “the first cabs off the rank”…