New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the people now have the commitment from the Australian and New Zealand governments that the two nations will hold annual formal bilateral engagements.
The meetings will be between ministers of foreign affairs, defence, finance, and climate change.
'I don't underestimate the value and importance and signal of the fact that we have brought the climate portfolio into those annual bilateral exchanges,' she said during a media conference on Friday.
'Because it's so obvious to us that there are ways that we can work together, not only between New Zealand and Australia but together in the work that we want to do within our own region of the Pacific to play our part and step up our role.'
