New Zealand proves fitting host for multilateral talks

  • Published
  • By Maj. Sam Highley
  • 13th Air Force Public Affairs
WELLINGTON, New Zealand --  "With your basket, and with my basket, together we will feed everyone."

This traditional New Zealand saying, translated into English from the Maori language, was referenced by Air Commodore Gavin Howse during the opening seminar of the Pacific Rim Airpower Symposium and Senior Enlisted Leadership Conference here June 24.

Air Commodore Howse, the Joint Forces New Zealand air component commander, used it to illustrate how each of the representatives from 19 nations attending the events June 23-27 would share knowledge with one another. It is also served as an example of why New Zealand is an appropriate venue for the events.

The Pacific Rim Airpower Symposium, co-hosted by the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the U.S. Air Force, is an annual event that encourages relationship building and enhances cooperation among the air forces of Asia-Pacific nations. The accompanying Senior Enlisted Leadership Conference brings together senior noncommissioned officers from throughout the region to discuss enlisted issues.

Both events match well with the Maori saying, which sums up New Zealand's long history of helping nations in need and joining multilateral teams to keep the Asia-Pacific region peaceful and stable. The signs of this New Zealand tradition are everywhere around Wellington, New Zealand's capital.

On Wellington's waterfront is a plaque, dedicated to the people of New Zealand by the United States' 2nd Marine Division. It commemorates the hospitality and support shown to thousands of U.S. servicemembers who transited through Wellington during World War II.

New Zealand's experience in overseas contingencies reaches far beyond hosting war-weary G.I.s, as New Zealand Defence Force men and women have served as part of multinational efforts in conflicts all around the world. One can see the evidence of this in the debating chamber of New Zealand's parliament building here, where small wooden plates commemorate the service of New Zealanders in far-flung conflicts ranging from Europe to Vietnam.

In fact, as the symposium delegates met in downtown Wellington, New Zealanders gathered at the National War Memorial here June 26 to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the start of the Korean War with a wreath laying ceremony.

New Zealand was one of the first of 16 nations to respond to the United Nations Security Council's call for combat assistance in that conflict. About 6,000 New Zealand military members took part in the Korean War, and today three New Zealand Defence Force personnel still work in South Korea as part of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission.

"It is heartening to see that in spite of the events of the 1950s, [South Korea] is now a strong and industrious nation," said Jim Nielsen, New Zealand Korean Veterans Association president.

The Pacific Rim symposium's focus on bringing different nations together in the spirit of partnership fit in perfectly with the powhiri the symposium attendees experienced upon arrival June 23. This traditional Maori welcome invites peaceful visitors in to a meeting place, known as a marae, for food, shelter and the sharing of knowledge.

"What a great way to start, what a great way to get to know each other, and what a great venue to do this," said Lt. Gen. Chip Utterback, 13th Air Force commander at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, following the powhiri at the Pipitea Marae here. Thirteenth AF headed up the U.S. planning and execution of the event.

This spirit of friendship, which continues today as New Zealand supports stabilization and capacity building efforts in the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste, has not gone unnoticed. Appreciation for New Zealand's work building a secure and peaceful Pacific are summed up by the words on the 2nd Marine Division's waterfront plaque, which tells the people of New Zealand:

"If you ever need a friend, you have one."