Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The Prime Minister is welcoming the United States' growing presence in the Pacific region.
Chris Hipkins has just returned from a 23-hour trip to Papua New Guinea, where a new security pact giving US armed forces uninhibited access to PNG's territorial waters and airspace was signed.
It was Mr Hipkins' first time meeting some of his Pacific counterparts, and he says they back American engagement in the region.
Our political reporter Anneke Smith filed this story from Port Moresby.
