Peace is a fragile thing. It takes courage to secure it. It takes wisdom to maintain it.

By and large, women in New Zealand are fortunate compared with some other countries, including many in our own region. But there is still progress to be made.

The Platform for Action gives due emphasis to the fact that women globally have continued to have insufficient access to the resources necessary to achieve economic independence.

It is important to remember that the Pacific Ocean covers a quarter of the world's surface and that each Pacific country has its own cultural, historical and ethnic identity.

New Zealand's taken some very significant decisions in relation to defence in the last two years.

On many occasions New Zealand has spoken about the need to ensure that women's concerns are fully integrated into all aspects of the United Nations' activities and structures, not marginalised in one part of the Secretariat.

The Open Skies issue is something that's ongoing and we understand that there are issues in Australia that need to be sorted out. It's something that I think over time there's an opportunity for us and we'll work on that in a progressive way.