Christopher Luxon Meets King Charles, Due To Discuss Trade And Security With British PM

Soumya
Bhamidipati, Journalist

The Prime
Minister has had a private audience with the
King.

Christopher Luxon met the monarch at Windsor
Castle, about 40km west of central London.

Luxon
landed in the United Kingdom on Sunday and is meeting
with British officials before heading to Türkiye later
in the week.

He is due to meet with UK Prime Minister
Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday and has signalled the pair will
discuss trade and security, amid ongoing geopolitical
tensions.

“New Zealand is a champion for free trade,
and I look forward to talking to Sir Keir Starmer about what
our countries can do together to support the rules-based
trading system,” Luxon said ahead of the trip.

“The UK
is also important to New Zealand’s prosperity. Our exports
there grew by more than 20 percent in 2024 and are still
growing.”

RNZ understands the conversation will focus
on broad commercial talks about deepening existing
relationships, rather than in-depth trade deal
discussions.

Luxon is also expected to speak with
business people who attended the government’s Infrastructure
Investment Summit in Auckland last
month.

Additionally, the visit is an opportunity to
reaffirm New Zealand’s defence and security partnership with
the UK.

The coalition government recently released its
long-awaited Defence Capability Plan, setting out a spending
blueprint for the next 15 years.

The government will
invest $12 billion over the next four years for a “modern,
combat-capable” defence force.

The plan will lift New
Zealand’s defence spending from just over 1 percent of GDP
to more than 2 percent in the next eight years.

The
figure is the lowest threshold the United States approves of
from its allies.

The UK announced its own lift in
defence spending earlier this year, also reported as a
signal to the US.

The visit coincides with the government’s
announcement that it will extend its military assistance
in support of Ukraine’s self-defence until December
2026.

NZDF personnel have been on the ground in Europe
working with like-minded partner countries for the past
three years.

The joint-operation has trained more than
53,000 Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel so
far.

Earlier this month, the UK announced it would put
a further £350m (NZ$780m) towards supporting
Ukraine.

Luxon will visit Istanbul and travel to
Gallipoli for Anzac Day later in the week.

Luxon had
no comment on the details of the conversation, but said King
Charles was incredibly well-informed about a range of issues
about the world.

He told Morning Report the
monarch was interested in understanding what is happening in
New Zealand.

Pope’s death

News of the death of
Pope Francis reached the prime minister ahead of the
audience with the King and they reflected on the pontiff at
the start of the meeting, Luxon said.

He told
Morning Report on Tuesday he had not yet decided
whether he will attend the Pope Francis’ funeral in
Italy.

He said the decision on whether he would
attend, or send other New Zealand representatives, would be
decided in the coming days after the Vatican released more
details.

“My thoughts and prayers are with Catholics
around the country,” he said.

Luxon said Pope was
humble and compassionate, and he had tremendous admiration
for him.

“Massive commitment to the vulnerable and
just connected with everyday people really
well.”

Ahead of his meeting with Sir Keir Starmer he
said the UK was now New Zealand’s seventh largest trading
partner, and there were many opportunities for exporters
with traditional products and emerging sectors of advanced
aviation, renewables and technology. Discussions would also
include defence and security matters, he told Morning
Report.

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