New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has met with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, with the Pacific and Ukraine on the agenda. She also met with US Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House, and welcomed the finalisation of negotiations of a Space Framework Agreement between the US and New Zealand.
Jacinda Ardern were scheduled to meet with the President for roughly an hour, but she stayed for 90 minutes discussing everything from the war in Ukraine, the recent gun violence in the United States, the Indo Pacific Economic Framework, and trade issues right through to our shared Irish heritage and family members who served in the Pacific during the war.
“I am greatly heartened by the nature of the discussion we had today,” said Ardern after the meeting, the first for a New Zealand Prime Minister at the White House since 2014.
In meeting with Kamala Harris, who has specific responsibility for United States work in space and cyber related issues so we discussed both – with a particular focus on the work New Zealand has been doing in the aftermath of March 15 on terrorism and violent extremism online. These are tough times globally, so the chance to speak so openly and frankly with other leaders on behalf of New Zealand was a welcome opportunity. And now, it’s time to come home! See you soon!
New Zealand also offered gifts to Biden, Harris, and First Lady Jill Biden.
