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Hon
Phil Goff, NZ Foreign Minister
New Zealand next High Commissioner
to Malaysia and Brunei will be career diplomat Geoff Randal, Foreign
Minister Phil Goff announced today.
"New Zealand enjoys long-standing links with Malaysia through
education exchanges, shared security concerns, cooperation in science
and technology, tourism and burgeoning economic and trade
relations," Mr Goff said.
“Close education links have been a strong bilateral tie since the
Colombo Plan. Some 13,000 Malaysians have graduated from our
universities and over 1000 Malaysian fee-paying students are currently
studying here.
“Malaysia plays a leading role in Southeast Asia. It is influential
in the Islamic world and a strong voice for developing country
concerns, especially as current Chair of the Non-aligned Movement.
“New Zealand and Malaysia have long shared security concerns, and we
are partners in the Five Power Defence Arrangement, which is New
Zealand's only defence arrangement in the Southeast Asian region.
“Malaysia is also New Zealand's largest market in Southeast Asia and
our 12th largest worldwide. Two-way trade is worth over NZ$1 billion a
year."
As High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Randal will also be
accredited to Brunei.
“We enjoy warm relations with Brunei Darussalam, as we saw during
visits to New Zealand by the Sultan and most recently the Crown
Prince,?Mr Goff said.
Mr Randal joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1973 and has been
posted to Rome, Bahrain, Riyadh and Port Moresby. He was Deputy High
Commissioner in Canberra from 1996 to 2000 and was most recently
Director of the Ministry's Disarmament Division.
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