Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has met with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office at the White House.
It was the first visit to the Oval Office by a New Zealand Prime Minister since John Key met with Barack Obama in 2014, and only the third such meeting in two decades.
Biden and Ardern spoke of the Pacific region, the war in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and climate change.
President Biden said New Zealand had been one of the United States’ closest partners with a “long history of friendship”, and said two of his uncles served in the Pacific in WWII.
Biden was also complimentary about Ardern’s leadership on the global stage, saying she had taken on a critical role.
The meeting ran well over the allotted hour, and Ardern extended an invitation for Biden and his Vice President to visit New Zealand.
