From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 14, no. 3, July 1999.

The New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rt. Hon. Don McKinnon with a 40-member delegation, including nine Members of Parliament, four students, journalists and military personnel spent two nights in Tonga August 17-19 during a six country Pacific tour.

Mr McKinnon visited the Tongan Legislative Assembly where he was invited to address the House-the first time he had addressed a Pacific Island parliament. He said it was important for Tonga and other Forum countries to become part of the global economy and to accept free trade. Countries that were slowly, steadily and carefully accepting economic reform had witnessed economic growth, he added.

Tonga's Speaker, Hon. Veikune gave Mr McKinnon Tonga's support in his bid to become the new Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations.