ABSTRACT
New Zealand needs to earn its living as a trading nation and provide for its defence in a world where the major players co-operate to make possible negotiated arrangements in a rules-based trading and security environment. New Zealand, as a distant trading partner and long-time ally, and with many citizens with ancestral links to England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales, stands profoundly perplexed by the uncertainties. When, in the 1960s, Britain first tried to enter the then European Economic Community, there was a real fear that restrictions in our biggest market for pastoral exports would be catastrophic. While the European Union remains New Zealand's third-largest trading partner after Australia and China, Britain's share is but one portion of the European total. When last held in Britain, in 1997 during the 'Cool Britannia' phase of the Blairite era, Britain inaugurated 'Tri-sector Commonwealth' meetings which added business, youth and people's forums to the intergovernmental consultations.
