Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Manatū Aorere
Agency overview
Jurisdiction New Zealand
Headquarters 195 Lambton Quay,
Wellington
WELLINGTON 6011
41°17′02″S 174°46′32″E / 41.283882°S 174.775604°E
Annual budget Total budgets for 2014/15[1]
Vote Foreign Affairs and Trade
$460,937,000
Vote Official Development Assistance
$589,296,000
Ministers responsible Hon Murray McCully
- Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon Tim Groser
- Minister of Trade
Hon Todd McClay
- Associate Minister of
Foreign Affairs
- Associate Minister of Trade
Agency executive Vacant
- Secretary / Chief Executive[2]
Website mfat.govt.nz

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) (Māori: Manatū Aorere) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the government on foreign and trade policy, and promoting New Zealand's interests in trade and international relations.

History

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) was first established as the Department of External Affairs (NZDEA) on 11 June 1943 through an Act of Parliament. This decision was prompted by a need for New Zealand to conduct its own external relations and because New Zealand's neighbour Australia already had its own Department of External Affairs since 1921. Prior to that, New Zealand's interests had been represented overseas by the United Kingdom. The establishment of the External Affairs Department was accompanied by the creation of a foreign service and the establishment of diplomatic missions in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Soviet Union between 1942 and 1944.[3] Like its similarly named Australian and Canadian counterparts, the NZDEA was named "External Affairs" rather than "Foreign Affairs" in deference to the British Government’s responsibility for conducting foreign policy on behalf of the British Empire and later the Commonwealth of Nations.[4]

From 1969 to 1988, the Ministry was known as as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Between 1988 and 1993, the Ministry was renamed the Ministry of External Relations and Trade (MERT). The NZDEA and the MFA was administrated by the Prime Minister's Department until 1975. Between 1946 and 1975, the Secretary of External/Foreign Affairs also served concurrently as the Permanent Head of the Prime Minister's Department. For much of this period, several New Zealand Prime Ministers including Peter Fraser, Walter Nash, and Keith Holyoake held the External Affairs portfolio. MFAT had no relation to an earlier Department of External Affairs, which was responsible for administrating New Zealand's South Pacific island dependencies of Niue, the Cook Islands, Tokelau, and Samoa between 1919 and 1943. In 1943, that aforementioned Department was renamed the Department of Island Territories. In 1975, the Island Territories Department was dissolved and its functions were absorbed back into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[5]

Functions

The ministry represents New Zealand interests to other governments, including at the United Nations, APEC and the WTO. It takes an active role in the Asia-Pacific region, and has been involved in regional security initiatives such as the RAMSI intervention in the Solomon Islands, and negotiating and implementing a peace agreement in Bougainville. It is active in developing export opportunities for local companies, and in 2008 negotiated a free trade agreement with China.

It used to sponsor the Centre for Strategic Studies New Zealand in conjunction with other NZ Government ministries, though the Centre is now part of Victoria University of Wellington.

The Ministry acts in a supervisory capacity (shared with the Ministry of Economic Development) for the delivery agency known as New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

NZAID

The New Zealand overseas development aid agency New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID) was a semi-autonomous agency within the ministry, until it was brought back into the ministry as the International Development Group (IDG). It is a major provider of aid to the Pacific.

Organisational structure

The Ministry has 653 staff based in Wellington and 661 staff overseas, with consulates and embassies in 53 posts worldwide.

Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and Trade

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.treasury.govt.nz/budget/2014/summarytables/estimates/09.htm
  2. ↑ http://beehive.govt.nz/release/foreign-minister-thanks-outgoing-chief-executive
  3. ↑ Malcolm Templeton, ed., An Eye, An Ear, And a Voice, p.1.
  4. ↑ Alan Watt, "The Department of Foreign Affairs," in The Times Survey of Foreign Ministries of the World, ed. Zara Steiner (London: Times Books Limited, 1982), p.35; James Eary, "The Department of External Affairs," in The Times Survey of Foreign Ministries of the World, p.96.
  5. ↑ Malcolm Templeton, ed., An Eye, An Ear, And a Voice, pp.1-2.

Further reading

External links