Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is talking up a more united Pacific in Papua New Guinea, saying the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) should be the central way other countries engage.
Luxon's visit this week has reinforced diplomatic, trade and defence connections with Papua New Guinea.
He returns home to New Zealand on Wednesday after a busy Tuesday schedule that saw him address the Papua New Guinean Parliament, only the second foreign leader to do so.
He met with Prime Minister James Marape behind closed doors on Tuesday afternoon, the pair fronting to media and answering questions about the Forum afterwards.
"I think there's huge opportunity for the Pacific Island Forum to become - and it is - the organising and the central organisation that actually, if you want to engage with the Pacific, you come through the Pacific Island Forum," Luxon said.
"There's more that sort of is uniting us around actually being Pacific nations, being a Pacific family and wanting to develop our own solutions to our own challenges - and making sure that anyone outside of the Pacific is actually engaging with us in a coherent way through the centrality of the PIF."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon views a mortar training and live firing exercise with NZDF and Papua New Guinea troops on Tuesday. Photo: RNZ / Russell Palmer
While the trip has seen Luxon warmly welcomed and reinforced ties with Papua New Guinea, it has also put other Pacific relationships in the spotlight.
Neither Prime Minister Luxon nor Foreign Minister Winston Peters flew to the Cook Islands for this week's celebration of 60 years of that country's constitution.
Instead, Peters delivered a speech in Auckland, highlighting that the "free" association meant Cook Islanders could choose to become fully independent should they wish.
The Cook Islands constitution set it up as a nation in "free association" with New Zealand, which enables the realm nation access to New Zealand citizenship, passports and currency while also placing certain responsibilities on New Zealand.
Papua New Guinea's prime minister James Marape gives a speech during celebrations of 50 years of diplomatic ties with New Zealand. Photo: RNZ / Russell Palmer
Peters maintains the relationship should have meant New Zealand would be consulted over the deals the Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown signed with China.
Asked about the dispute, Luxon said New Zealand had no problem with the Cook Islands people, but "we have a political issue to work through with the actual government of the Cook Islands".
"We've got some work to do, to make sure that we deal with the differences and the disagreements we have about the nature of our constitutional arrangements," he said.
Marape confirmed their meeting had included discussion of the "Pacific Island family".
With the Solomon Islands to host the next Forum Leaders meeting next month, he said he would be phoning his counterpart.
"I will be making a phone call to my colleague in Honiara to make sure that he gives respect to the spirit of the structure that has carried us thus far. That's ... all I can say.
"My call to him would be 'how's it going and is there anything you need from us' and to make sure that we don't shift away from the Pacific Island forum structure we have - without pre-empting my call, it's a call between me and him, I can't dive more into what level of conversation we'll have."
The Solomon Islands has also faced criticism for its dealings with China, and recent reporting has highlighted it could seek to prevent Taiwan's attendance at the forum.
Other reports have suggested one solution being considered would be to ban China and the United States from attending.
Winston Peters is attending the Forum next month.
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