Prime Minister Chris Hipkins meets Rishi Sunak ahead of coronation
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was presented with a plate full of sausage rolls by his UK counterpart, Rishi Sunak, when the pair met at Number 10 Downing Street ahead of the coronation. Hipkins himself came armed with Watties tomato sauce. The sausage rolls were from the popular Greggs chain. This is the first meeting between Hipkins and Sunak. Hipkins said he was thinking he had a future role as a brand ambassador for sausage rolls around the world. READ MORE: * PM Chris Hipkins says fast-tracked UK FTA has 'potential' to grow GDP by $1b a year * NZ-UK free trade agreement to come into force at end of May * PM Chris Hipkins meets Prince William He declined to compare the sausage rolls from Downing Street with those given to him by the King, saying that would get him into a lot of trouble. Hipkins entered Downing Street on Friday morning, local time, as part of a cavalcade of world leaders meeting with Sunak on Friday, including Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The meeting comes a day after the UK confirmed the new free trade agreement between the two countries would come into force from the end of this month. Hipkins said he was excited to talk about trade, supporting Ukraine, and climate change with Sunak. "Our countries have so much in common and so many mutual interests," Hipkins said. It comes following a bruising local election night for Sunak's Conservative Party, who are set to lose hundreds of council seats. Sunak said the free trade agreement would be "terrific for businesses, for citizens of both of our countries, create lots of jobs." Speaking after the meeting, Hipkins said the AUKUS security arrangement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the USA was not a topic of conversation, but was mentioned in passing. The AUKUS arrangement wasnt a topic of conversation, but I think it was mentioned in a passing way, Hipkins said. Hipkins said he would not speculate on New Zealand joining any future stage of the AUKUS partnership. The current partnership involves nuclear submarines so would not comply with New Zealands nuclear-free policy. He said the meeting was more about building on a strong relationship than advancing any specific policy goals, given New Zealand was pleased with the advancement of the free trade agreement. We discussed a range of areas where New Zealand and the UK have mutual interests, Hipkins said. The friendship between the UK and New Zealand is the best it has been in a long time. He said the trade agreement was accompanied by a lot of cooperation on climate change and support for Ukraine. Earlier this week Hipkins visited a training camp in the UK where NZDF troops are helping to train Ukrainian forces. National leader Christopher Luxon, who is also in town for the coronation, said the relationship was strong but there was "a big opportunity to make it stronger." "We fundamentally have very aligned values. We think similarly about some of the issues, some of the themes and challenges that we are wrestling with are similar." Asked whether New Zealand could join a second stage of AUKUS, Luxon his party was open to looking at potential opportunities but this was still a "watching brief." "We are very open to monitoring that and seeing what opportunities may exist there, but at the moment it's really just a watching brief."