Waitangi Day celebration marked the day when Maori Chiefs of Aotearoa and the British Crown signed a Treaty on how they could live together.

The New Zealand High Commissioner, HE Tiffany Babington  explained that the Treaty set the ground framework between the New Zealand Government and the Maori, and the Spirit of the Treaty is partnership, based on mutual understanding of each other’s cultures, united in common values, shared history, experiences and successes.

She pointed out that the Treaty of Waitangi and its relevance is not just confined to New Zealand, as it defines how New Zealand engages with the rest of the world, especially the Pacific and Tonga.

Last year the New Zealand Government announced its Pacific Reset – calling it a new reenergized project of engaging with the Pacific based on New Zealand values, and set on five guide principals – understanding, friendship, mutual benefits, collective ambition and sustainability.

“The Pacific Preset also involves technical and financial support to the Pacific, we are sure of making Tonga and the Pacific a safe and a prosperous place for us all.” 

There are more than 60,000 Tongans living in New Zealand, the high commissioner said.

The Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus is a regional development-centred trade agreement.

The high commissioner  also announced that New Zealand was the first Pacific country to ratify the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus PACERPlus in October 2018, and said she looked forward for Tonga and other Pacific Islands countries ratifying PACERPlus this year so that they could proceed to “Aid for Trade” with New Zealand and Australia.

The Tongan PM, Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva responded to the speech by referring to the historical relations between Tonga and New Zealand, when the Tongan Monarchy were influenced by British Wesleyan missionaries, but the anti-monarchy were influenced by French Catholic missionaries.

The New Zealand government apparently played a prominent role in Tonga remaining a friend of New Zealand and the British.

He also expressed his appreciation for New Zealand development assistance to Tonga, and its partnership with Australia to rebuild Tonga’s parliament building that was destroyed by Cyclone Gita in February 2018.

However, PM Pohiva expressed his dismay with the recent reports in the New Zealand Media, calling Tonga “a Kingdom of Ice”, and some New Zealand politicians claiming that Tonga is a “failed state”. But the PM did not want to elaborate on the claims.

He then said that along with all those Tongans who lived in New Zealand he wanted to propose a toast to “Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of England”.