Source: New Zealand Government
[Speech to the Swedish Institute for International Affairs, 4.00pm, 28 October 2025]
State Secretary Hartelius, former Minister Tobias Billstrom, Ambassadors, members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests,
Tack och Välkomna
For many of you living here in the Nordic countries it must seem like New Zealand is a country at the very end of the earth. Having made the flight here via Iceland and Norway, we can confirm that you’re absolutely right…
While we are very far away from the Nordic nations, just north of where the Emperor penguins live, we share many similar values and experiences, and our people- to-people exchanges have more history behind them than many might think.
Our links with the Nordic region can be traced back to 1769. There were two Nordics on Captain Cook’s ship, ‘The Endeavour’ – Daniel Solander a noted botanist from Pitea, Sweden and Hermann Sporring, his assistant from Turku in what is now Finland. That’s 256 years – as long as our connection with the United Kingdom.
Solander was the first to catalogue many unique New Zealand species, New Zealand’s iconic silver fern among them. Visitors can see this at Te Papa, our national museum in Wellington.
Both Solander and Sporring have places in New Zealand named after them. Towns like Norsewood and Dannevirke also speak to the strong connections with settlers from this part of the world.
Nordic whalers visited our shores in the early 19th century. Later that century, in the 1870s, a large cohort of Scandinavians immigrated to New Zealand, including Norwegians, alongside Danes and Swedes,
One of them, former Danish Prime Minister Ditlev Monrad, also emigrated to New Zealand, helped facilitate further Nordic immigration, and donated his art collection to the people of New Zealand, where they still sit as part of our national art collection.
New Zealand continues to be a popular destination for young Nordics, and we were pleased to add Iceland last week to a working holiday visa scheme that can only benefit our understanding and appreciation of each other.
This is our third visit to Stockholm since we reopened our embassy in 2019, and the second time we’ve been able to visit each of the Nordic capitals, part of our strong commitment to strengthen the ties between us.
In the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs we have taken this even further, with not one, but two of our staff who proudly celebrate their Nordic origins.
My Senior Private Secretary, Helen Lahtinen, is Swedish born of Finnish parents and my Senior Foreign Policy Advisor, Jon Johansson’s father, Danish born, was part of the post-World War Two Nordic diaspora who chose to forge a new life in New Zealand.
It would be fair to say, therefore, that my office embodies Nordic-New Zealand relations about as well as is possible, certainly in terms of their, shall we say, typically refreshing Nordic directness and clarity of thought.
A personal, long-held theory about that clarity is that people in cold countries have to make clear-sighted judgements because if they don’t, they die.
We are here today to talk about the strength of the partnerships between New Zealand and the Nordic countries and the shared challenges we face together in our more contested, complex, and troubled world.
We will celebrate those partnerships tomorrow with the first ever meeting among the foreign ministers of the five Nordic countries and New Zealand. We will use that meeting to talk about existing collaborations, how we can build further upon them in the years ahead, and we will traverse the many shared challenges we face.
We are grateful to our Nordic friends for agreeing to this discussion and look forward to it. Coming into this meeting, we have long-standing relationships and strong shared values. Those values are enduring:
- Equality, tolerance and a commitment to fairness;
- Democracy – New Zealand is one of only nine countries with an uninterrupted sequence of elections since 1854;
- Freedom from fear, and from want;
- And human rights, as set out in the 1948 Universal Declaration.
The Nordic countries are among New Zealand’s most natural partners on the global stage. More than that, as we said back in 2019, our partnership should and will be grounded in our shared values and worldview. There is no limit to what we might achieve – together.
That was true then. It is even more important now.
The Nordics and New Zealand have a lot in common. We are all relatively small countries in population terms, though we have significant land-based and maritime interests as well. Our land-based industries make a significant economic contribution and our exclusive economic zones cover over 10 million square kilometres.
We all possess stable democracies, committed to the rule of law, with low levels of corruption, and a strong record of delivering social welfare support to those in need. We robustly support free speech, and we have strong education systems.
We all have export-oriented economies with well-deserved reputations for innovation. Tourism is a significant contributor to all of our economies. Renewable energy is strong in our respective energy mixes. Our leading companies are investing in making the green transition and, for New Zealand in particular, equipment produced by Nordic companies is helping us make that change in areas like wind energy, trucks and other manufactured equipment that requires power.
And all have national parks and work to protect our pristine environments and biodiversity. Forests play a significant role for many of us as carbon sinks and as a sustainable economic resource.
We may not have large populations, but we are all active on the global stage.
The Nordic countries are NATO members. New Zealand is a NATO partner country and one of the Indo-Pacific Four that NATO now consults regularly. This helps us to raise the profile of shared strategic challenges in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, and to drive enhanced cooperation in priority areas, including cyber, artificial intelligence, and defence capability.
Denmark, Finland and Sweden are EU members. Iceland and Norway belong to the European Economic Area and the Schengen Zone among other connections to the EU.
New Zealand is a close partner of the EU, with the Free Trade Agreement that entered into force in May 2024; the Partnership Agreement on Relations and Cooperation which addresses non-trade links; as the first non-European country to join the Horizon Europe initiative – the world’s largest science investment funding arrangement; and through many other points of contact.
New Zealand has worked with Iceland and Norway on trade processes. As members of the Schengen zone, we work with them and their EU friends on people access to Europe.
The Nordics and New Zealand have also collaborated closely in different ways on issues like disarmament, human rights, Antarctic issues, and international fisheries policy.
But the reality is that the Nordics and New Zealand face unprecedented challenges. There are important shifts going on in geopolitics globally.
As New Zealand’s Foreign Minister for a third time, spanning the past three decades, it has never been more apparent just how much diplomacy and the tools of statecraft matter in our troubled world.
Tectonic shifts unfolding in the global distribution of power, economic might, and strategic influence have upended old assumptions, while the rules-based order is under severe and sustained assault. Although the Nordic countries and New Zealand are literally a world apart, we face these challenges together.
Twenty-five years ago, we all enjoyed a world that was becoming more open, more democratic, and more free. Trade liberalisation was gathering pace. Effective multilateralism helped underpin a liberal-oriented international rules-based system.
Today, New Zealand sees three big shifts underpinning the multi-faceted and complex challenges facing us. They are:
From rules to power, a shift towards a multipolar world that is characterized by more contested rules and where the relative power between states assumes a greater role in shaping international affairs.
From economics to security, a shift in which economic relationships are reassessed in light of increased military competition in a more securitized and less stable world.
And from efficiency to resilience, where we see a shift in the drivers of economic behaviour, and where building greater resilience and addressing pressing social and sustainability issues become more prominent.
These shifts present challenges for trade-dependent countries like those in the Nordic region and New Zealand.
There is, however, also far greater understanding about how our regions are inter-connected. What happens in Mariupol reverberates in Manila. Decisions made in the South China Sea ripple into the Baltic. Supply chains, digitalisation, climate shifts and security risks do not stop at borders. They surge across them.
Russia has upended the post-World War Two security order with its illegal war in Ukraine. Europe once again faces the brutality of naked aggression. This war seeks to destroy the rules-based order that has preserved relative peace for generations and it cannot be allowed to prevail.
Our Nordic friends have responded swiftly and generously. New Zealand, despite our distance from the conflict, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine, through significant funding, political support and a strong sanctions regime, now into its 33rd round, that impacts Russia and its allies.
Despite our distance from the world’s conflict zones, New Zealand has always played an active role in peacekeeping efforts and during regional or global conflicts. That is our history, ever since 1864 you will find New Zealand soldiers fighting in other people’s wars.
We do so to defend the values we hold dear, and because we believe in collective action to secure peace whenever and wherever it is threatened.
Now, our region, the Indo-Pacific, is under the most sustained pressure it has faced in the past 80 years. The Pacific, which comprises close to a third of the world’s surface, is ever more contested. The Pacific has in this sense just got larger.
Island nations are seeing their ocean of peace under threat in ways they are mostly powerless to stop. So, we believe those countries like the Nordics, countries who share our values need to be more engaged in our region in support of our neighbouring Pacific family of nations. They need your help.
We appreciate all that our Nordic friends do in the Pacific, from stepping up their diplomatic focus on our region to targeted development support. We value your contributions and New Zealand is ready to partner with you to amplify your impact and help deliver what the Pacific needs.
We understand the Pacific. We are of it, through DNA links and shared history and cultural connections, and stand ready to help the Nordic countries understand some of the complexities, nuances, and challenges facing the small island states of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia,
New Zealand is proud to work with our Nordic friends and partners as we seek to navigate the treacherous conditions that we face. You bring to the table not only strategic wisdom but a healthy realism, while remaining firm in support of essential values like standing up for human dignity, for democracy, and for a sustainable and more resilient future.
Looking to that future, we think we must focus our work together across three fronts.
First, uphold international law and the rule-based order. We cannot allow aggression to be rewarded. Whether in Europe or Asia, sovereignty must be inviolate, so there must be costs to those who do not respect that.
The UN Charter must be nurtured and sustained. From human rights to trade policy, from disarmament to development, the Nordic countries and New Zealand have worked together, collaboratively and well in multilateral fora.
But the reality is that the United Nations is not meeting the needs of its members, leaving it vulnerable to outright repudiation by some, and ambivalence by others. The time for necessary and meaningful reform is long overdue. Critically, the UN80 process must transform, not merely reform the organisation.
We must, as predominantly small states, work together to ensure inertia is replaced with an urgency that the times demand. We need to make the UN’s institutions more responsive, efficient and effective.
The Nordics and New Zealand have also been leaders on polar issues. From the environment and biodiversity and dealing with fast-growing geopolitical challenges, we are important voices. And we can share more of our respective experiences in the lead up to the next International Polar Year in 2032/33.
Second, deliver resilience for our people. From critical minerals to cyber security, from sea lanes to satellites, we must strengthen the systems that underpin our economies and societies. Resilience is the antidote to coercion.
Nordic interests like Ericsson and Nokia play an important role in our telecommunications sector. Maersk carries a whopping 40 percent of all shipping to and from New Zealand.
So, we have responsibilities beyond our national borders in this respect. New Zealand’s Pacific region is overwhelmingly comprised of small states. Climate change is an existential issue for some of them, so boosting their resilience is essential. The oceans are critical for their economic well-being. They need support to build that resilience and to manage the problems they face. We welcome more collaboration with our Nordic friends to help achieve that.
Third, invest in connectivity and innovation. The strength of our future partnership will not only be measured in trade statistics, but in how well we connect our people, our ideas and our technologies.
Thousands of our young people and academics have studied in each other’s countries. Nordic-New Zealand collaboration is also a key feature of our Horizon Europe engagement with some 72 active collaborations across 12 approved projects so far.
New Zealand and Iceland are at the cutting edge in developing supercritical geothermal energy resources involving wells going one to three kilometres into the Earth’s crust.
New Zealand is now also a world leader in space, ranking third in rocket launches globally, and with a fast-growing domestic space sector built around this. Space is of interest to our Nordic partners also.
Whether through digital infrastructure, research collaboration or stronger educational and cultural links, we can build a strengthening fabric that sustains prosperity for future generations.
We smaller nations understand that our strength lies in cooperation. Small states matter and we hold the foundational belief that all states are equal. We expect to treat others as we are treated, with understanding and respect.
In closing, New Zealand’s ambition is to deepen our partnerships with the Nordic region – not only in response to today’s crises, but to deepen the foundations for tomorrow’s cooperation.
Together, our relations with you demonstrate that distance is no barrier to friendship, that small and medium nations can have influence through the power of collective action, and that principled values-based partnerships can help shape the global order in positive, practical ways.
History teaches us that distance offers no refuge from disruption. But it also teaches us that solidarity, across continents and oceans, and amongst peoples, can forge peace and progress against the odds.
So let’s be bold. Let’s be restless in defence of a rules-based order, relentless in bolstering resilience, and resolute in our commitments to deepen our connections with one another.
From Stockholm to Wellington, from the Baltic to Pacific, let us send this message: that while geography may divide us, our values unite us – and in that unity lies our greatest strength.
Thank you.