This evening the Prime Minister spoke to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, following her recent electoral victory.
The Prime Minister began by commending New Zealand’s success in tackling coronavirus. Prime Minister Ardern congratulated the UK on becoming the first country in the world to start using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Both leaders agreed on the importance of the international community coming together in the months ahead to share information, expertise and resources when it comes to coronavirus vaccines and the wider recovery.
The Prime Ministers discussed the fight against climate change. The Prime Minister emphasised his desire to work with Prime Minister Ardern ahead of the UK’s COP26 summit in Glasgow next year. The leaders also agreed on the need to address climate change and biodiversity as two sides of the same coin, and the Prime Minister welcomed Prime Minister Ardern’s endorsement of the UN’s Leaders’ Pledge for Nature.
Both leaders looked forward to enhancing the UK-New Zealand relationship in the coming year in areas including trade and tackling shared threats, and looked forward to meeting in person at the earliest opportunity.