New Zealand

Last updated in October 2011

Political relations 

Germany and New Zealand established diplomatic relations in 1953. Over the years, a relationship of mutual trust has developed, not least owing to the fact that the two countries very often take similar positions on international issues. A regular dialogue at various levels has been established between the two countries. In May 2007 New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters visited Berlin, in June 2011 Foreign Minister Westerwelle visited Auckland. In April 2005, November 2006 and November 2007, then Prime Minister Helen Clark travelled to Berlin for political talks. In February 2009, New Zealand’s Trade Minister Tim Groser visited Germany, the first member of the new government to do so. In December 2009, a visit by New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully followed. Both ministers visited Germany again in 2011.

Economic relations

Economic relations are straightforward. A double-taxation convention was signed as early as 1978. The New Zealand-German Business Association in Auckland acts as a local German foreign chamber of commerce. On request, it brokers contacts with New Zealand business partners and conducts market analyses. New Zealand’s business community is represented in Germany by the Hamburg-based governmental organization New Zealand Trade and Enterprise.

New Zealand’s major exports to Germany are meat products (mainly mutton and game), dairy products and wool. The main imports from Germany are motor vehicles, machinery of all kinds, medical and pharmaceutical products and fertilizers. Germany ranks eightth (second among EU countries) among New Zealand’s principal trading partners. Numbering 66,000 annually, German tourists rank sixth in New Zealand’s statistics.

Scientific relations

Along with the US, Australia and the United Kingdom, Germany is one of New Zealand’s principal cooperation partners in science and technology. Since the agreement on scientific and technological cooperation was concluded in December 1977, scientists from both countries have been cooperating in numerous joint research projects. In February 2007, the provisions of this agreement were reaffirmed by the two countries’ research ministers, the following priority areas being defined for future cooperation: health, food/agriculture, biotechnology, the environment, marine and Antarctic research, and since 2010 production engineering.

Outstanding examples of research cooperation include, in the area of geosciences, the institutional partnership GENESYS between the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam and New Zealand’s Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science (GNS), and the project INTERCOAST – Integrated Coastal Zone and Shelf-Sea Research between the Universities of Bremen and Waikato, which was launched in February 2010. This interdisciplinary project involves 13 doctoral students and is financed by EUR 2.4 million in funding from the German Research Foundation. In addition, there are numerous cooperation projects in the area of Antarctic and marine research and a ring laser project between the Technical University of Munich and the University of Canterbury, Christchurch. In early 2008, the New Zealand-German Science Circle was officially launched, an intergovernmental initiative featuring regular series of lectures by prominent scientists, which is designed to further promote mutual understanding in research matters.

Cultural relations

Since 1 December 2000, the so-called Working Holiday Programme has enabled young people to finance stays of up to twelve months in the partner country by taking on a vacation job there. This gives them the opportunity to learn something about each other’s culture and everyday life. Every year, close to 8,000 young Germans take advantage of this opportunity.

The Wellington-based Goethe Institute is an important mediator of German language and culture. Besides offering language courses, it organizes each year a wide range of cultural events in cooperation with local partners. In addition, the Goethe Societies in the major cities help to cultivate German language and culture. There is a lively exchange of school and university students and New Zealand is becoming an increasingly popular destination.

In addition, there are numerous German academics and scientists working at New Zealand’s universities and research institutions.

While the German side awards many German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarships and an above-average number of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation scholarships to New Zealanders, in 2004 the New Zealand side launched the Julius von Haast Fellowship Programme with the specific aim of promoting the exchange of researchers between Germany and New Zealand. This programme enables German scientists and academics to spend time in New Zealand as guest researchers. The University of Auckland has a DAAD-seconded German lecturer who, together with the German Embassy and the Goethe Institute, advises on questions relating to scholarships and on studying and researching in Germany. Conversely, the Institut Ranke-Heinemann in Essen and Berlin represents all of New Zealand’s universities. It offers free and independent counselling on all questions relating to studying in New Zealand.