[Australia]: Message to New Zealand [SEC=SECRET]

[Owen]

​

ATTORNEY-GENERAL​

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: SECRET (ENCRYPTED)​

20 November 2004

Dear Foreign Minister Goff, We are aware of the recent press conference between yourself and Surin Pitsuwan from Thailand. Whilst we have no problems with Thailand and New Zealand pursuing closer economic and bilateral relations, we are concerned about conflicts between this proposed Strategic Partnership and our Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement and other bilateral agreements between us as some tweets from the Bangkok Post have suggested it would redefine economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and achieve a level of economic integration rarely seen outside of a formal economic union. We would like to receive a copy of this proposed Strategic Partnership to have our legal experts look over it and see if it's compatible with the CER as the goal of the CER is ultimately to ensure that Australia and New Zealand prioritise each other in terms of trade and economic cooperaton and allows for forms of economic integration. We may need to propose amendments to the CER to ensure that the economic integration between Thailand and New Zealand does not allow for any adverse economic integration between Australia and Thailand. Yours sincerely, Nicola Roxon.

Parliament House, CANBERRA, ACT 2600 Telephone: (02) 6277 7700​

Protective Marking:	Business Impact Level:	Compromise of Information Confidentiality:	Required to be Encrypted:
UNOFFICIAL	No Business Impact	No damage. This information does not form part of official duty.
OFFICIAL	Low Business Impact	No or insignificant damage. This is the majority of routine information.
OFFICIAL: Sensitive	Low to Medium Business Impact	Limited damage to an individual, organisation or government generally if compromised.
PROTECTED	High Business Impact	Damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.
SECRET	Extreme Business Impact	Serious damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.
TOP SECRET	Catastrophic Business Impact	Exceptionally grave damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.

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[Basedcnt]

Encrypted, Secure - IN-CONFIDENCE

Recipient: Nicola Roxon, Australia < Owen >
Sender: Minister of Foriegn Affairs Hon. Phil Goff < mfa@mfat.nz.gov >
Date: 20th of November, 2004
Subject: SP Agreement

Hello Nicola,

Thank you for contacting me. I can assure you that the Strategic Partnerships agreement only allows more trade opportunities in future, and does not feature trade agreements. Instead, it asks for the establishment of a working, bi-government group whose end goal is to identify, manage and promote New Zealand and Thai trade.

Thank you,

Hon. Phil Goff, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Commonwealth of New Zealand