Latest news with #MFAT
RNZ News
5 days ago
- RNZ News
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and trade concerned about Thailand-Cambodia conflict
Royal Thai Army soldiers are pictured on armoured vehicles on a road in Chachoengsao province. Photo: LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA / AFP The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has updated its travel advice, saying it's concerned by the exchanges of fire on the land border between Thailand and Cambodia. New Zealand supports the efforts by ASEAN to de-escalate the dispute, and calls for restraint, diplomacy and dialogue, MFAT said in a statement. At least 12 people, including civilians, are reported to have died since violence broke out on Thursday. Both sides accuse the other of firing first. Cambodia said it fired rockets, while Thailand launched an F-16 fighter jet that later dropped two bombs on a road leading to a Cambodian temple . Thailand said a soldier had lost his leg in a landmine. A Thai government spokesperson said it had expelled Cambodia's ambassador and withdrawn its own envoy from Phnom Penh. MFAT's SafeTravel website now advised the land border between the two countries was closed and travellers should avoid the affected area. In a statement, a MFAT spokesperson said, "travellers are advised to monitor the situation and to check the status of the border with local authorities." "New Zealanders travelling in Thailand and Cambodia should register their details with SafeTravel," they said. New Zealand had received consular inquiries since tensions between the two countries escalated on 28 May, but there were no current consular cases, the spokesperson said. That skirmish left a Cambodian soldier dead. Thai and Cambodian officials met in June to try and ease tensions over the long-running dispute across the 820-kilometre border area, which both sides have laid claim to for decades. - RNZ/Reuters
New Straits Times
14-07-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Zahid arrives in New Zealand for 5-day working visit
AUCKLAND: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi arrived here today (July 14) to begin his five-day working visit to New Zealand. Zahid, who is also Rural and Regional Development Minister, touched down at the Auckland International Airport at about 11.30am local time (7.30am Malaysian time) and was received by Malaysian High Commissioner to New Zealand Mazita Marzuki and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Americas and Asia Group Deputy Secretary Grahame Morton. Also present was MFAT South and Southeast Asia Divisional Manager Joanna Kempkers. In a post on Facebook, Zahid described the visit as part of Malaysia's ongoing strategic efforts to strengthen its long-standing ties with New Zealand, which were established in 1957. He said it also reflects the shared commitment of both nations to continue high-level engagements and cooperation. "I hope this visit will further strengthen our diplomatic relations, broaden strategic collaboration across various sectors and promote Malaysia's national interest on the global stage. "Insya-Allah, may this mission bring benefits to the people and the country," he said. During the visit, Zahid is scheduled to meet with Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Maori Development Minister Tama Potaka, as well as Agriculture, Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay. Ahmad Zahid, who is also Halal Industry Development Council chairman, is slated to participate in a Halal Forum organised by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries and engagement sessions with local industry and business leaders. He is also expected to witness the signing of cooperation documents between both countries in the field of higher education. Other programmes lined up include a visit to the National Crisis Management Centre, a roundtable session with the Maori community in Rotorua and a gathering with some 250 Malaysians residing in New Zealand. The last official visit to New Zealand by a Malaysian leader was in March 2005 by the late Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was then prime minister. — BERNAMA
The Star
14-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Ahmad Zahid arrives in New Zealand for five-day working visit
AUCKLAND: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi arrived here on Monday (July 14) to begin his five-day working visit to New Zealand. Ahmad Zahid, who is also Rural and Regional Development Minister, touched down at the Auckland International Airport at about 11.30am local time (5.30am Malaysian time) and was received by Malaysian High Commissioner to New Zealand Mazita Marzuki and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Americas and Asia Group Deputy Secretary Grahame Morton. Also present was MFAT South and Southeast Asia Divisional Manager Joanna Kempkers. In a post on Facebook, Ahmad Zahid described the visit as part of Malaysia's ongoing strategic efforts to strengthen its long-standing ties with New Zealand, which were established in 1957. He said it also reflects the shared commitment of both nations to continue high-level engagements and cooperation. "I hope this visit will further strengthen our diplomatic relations, broaden strategic collaboration across various sectors and promote Malaysia's national interest on the global stage. "May this mission bring benefits to the people and the country," he said. During the visit, Ahmad Zahid is scheduled to meet with Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Maori Development Minister Tama Potaka, as well as Agriculture, Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay. Ahmad Zahid, who is also Halal Industry Development Council chairman, is slated to participate in a halal forum organised by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries and engagement sessions with local industry and business leaders. He is also expected to witness the signing of cooperation documents between both countries in the field of higher education. Other programmes lined up include a visit to the National Crisis Management Centre, a roundtable session with the Maori community in Rotorua and a gathering with some 250 Malaysians residing in New Zealand. The last official visit to New Zealand by a Malaysian top leader was in March 2005 by the late Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was then Prime Minister. - Bernama
Barnama
14-07-2025
- Business
- Barnama
Ahmad Zahid Arrives In New Zealand For Five-day Working Visit
GENERAL From Ahmad Erwan Othman AUCKLAND, July 14 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi arrived here today to begin his five-day working visit to New Zealand. Ahmad Zahid, who is also Rural and Regional Development Minister, touched down at the Auckland International Airport at about 11.30 am local time (5.30 am Malaysian time) and was received by Malaysian High Commissioner to New Zealand Mazita Marzuki and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Americas and Asia Group Deputy Secretary Grahame Morton. Also present was MFAT South and Southeast Asia Divisional Manager Joanna Kempkers. In a post on Facebook, Ahmad Zahid described the visit as part of Malaysia's ongoing strategic efforts to strengthen its long-standing ties with New Zealand, which were established in 1957. He said it also reflects the shared commitment of both nations to continue high-level engagements and cooperation. 'I hope this visit will further strengthen our diplomatic relations, broaden strategic collaboration across various sectors and promote Malaysia's national interest on the global stage. 'Insya-Allah, may this mission bring benefits to the people and the country,' he said. During the visit, Ahmad Zahid is scheduled to meet with Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Maori Development Minister Tama Potaka, as well as Agriculture, Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay.
RNZ News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Stranded in hell: How people are extracted from war zones
Photo: JACK GUEZ It is dangerous, diplomatically delicate and extremely expensive. Getting a New Zealander out of a war zone can cost $1 million if they're injured. It often takes high level negotiations with top secret contacts and New Zealand often has to ask favours of other friendly countries to get its citizens to safety. "It's a very tricky business to exfiltrate or extract or save New Zealanders abroad in other countries' jurisdictions," says Stephen Hoadley, retired Auckland University professor of political science. "They are hosts to New Zealanders but they don't expect that to be abused by New Zealand flying in and moving around the countryside ignoring local sensitivities." Hoadley says the New Zealand government faces pressure from many corners when citizens are caught in conflict zones and it often has scant information about an operation because things are changing by the hour. "About half of New Zealanders never bother to register in a foreign country and of course they're vulnerable, more at risk because MFAT cannot contact them, their families cannot contact them often and then the families will ring up the Minister of Foreign Affairs desperate to contact their son, daughter, brother, sister in a war zone and this puts a lot of pressure on the minister, the ministry, the bureaucrats and others." Jerusalem-based Samoan Vincent Schmidt tells The Detail how he used his contacts as a security officer for the United Nations to get a young Samoan student to safety after she was stranded in Israel last week. But it took several days and involved the Samoan ambassador in Belgium and the government back in Apia to get Polino Falevaai home. Schmidt explains how they all communicated by WhatsApp, as Falevaai travelled by bus for four to five hours over the border into Egypt, encountering a number of checkpoints before she faced a two-day wait in a chaotic Cairo airport. "There were a couple of flights that got cancelled a couple of minutes before she had to board the plan but because of the checkpoints they got delayed, there was a miscommunication with the school. Yeah, there were a lot of challenges," says Schmidt ReliefAid humanitarian agency founder Mike Seawright recalls a high risk situation in Syria under the brutal Assad regime when he had to evacuate 100 workers at a hospital close to the front line. They had to flee in minutes but one doctor refused to go. "I'm saying to the guy, 'you don't get an option here, you are relocating no matter what you think. Get on that truck, you're putting other lives at risk here, we'll come back as soon as we can but at this point we don't know if hell on earth is going to open up around this clinic, this hospital'," says Seawright. Until recently he says, it was impossible to get insurance for his workers in hotspots such as Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan, making the delivery of aid and the care of his team even more costly. That added to the complications of managing teams of workers that were both local and international. Seawright says Gaza is by far the riskiest location right now. "When we started in Gaza we started with a team of nine in the north ... of the nine, seven are now dead, and two are severely injured. Even our team in Ukraine and our team in Syria ... they tell us to be careful in Gaza. Even places like Ukraine which in itself is extremely dangerous." Security expert James Robertson of International SOS says working with clients in the Middle East has been "intense". One of the challenging parts is pulling together a disparate group of people and preparing them for a difficult border crossing. "When you're trying to co-ordinate lots of different clients, each of whom has a different risk tolerance, a different appetite for uncertainty and friction, I suppose, trying to co-ordinate them together to make a response on the ground can be pretty tricky." Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
