Will’s Word: This is why overseas trips matter

I've got to say, I love seeing our political leaders or Prime Ministers out there in the big wide world.

Whether it was Jacinda Ardern when she was Prime Minister at the United Nations or even Christopher Luxon this week in South Korea and Malaysia. I love to see it. When our leaders are rubbing shoulders with other global leaders.

I think of it more than just a photo op or the grip and grin moments as they like to call it in the media. It’s more about putting New Zealand on the map. Because geographically we are at the bottom of the world and so sometimes it can feel isolating. So it's important that we get out there and engage, right?

This week, Luxon's busy, from Malaysia to South Korea, finalising big trade investment deals, celebrating 50 years of partnership with ASEAN, and strengthening ties in a part of the world where our future arguably lies.

Now he's on his way to the APEC summit where he could be quite literally sitting across the table from US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping. Regardless of political stripes, it is pretty cool.

Say what you want about Trump, and I know people will, but the fact that New Zealand's even in that room is massive. Because when you've got the world's two biggest economies, China and the US, talking trade, climate or even tariffs, it directly affects us.

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I don't want to diminish the problems that we have in this country, New Zealand, not for a moment. But I reckon we get so caught up in domestic dramas: who said what in Parliament, who's up or down in the polls, that we actually forget we're a tiny country living on a shared planet.

So building relationships beyond our backyard is good. It's good for New Zealand, it's good for the Pacific. And Luxon will be trying to pitch New Zealand as a safe haven for investment, to try and build economic growth.

So the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to major jaunts like this overseas. Regardless of which side of the political fence you sit on, seeing our Prime Minister out there, mixing with world leaders, representing us on the global stage, that's something we should all back.

That's Will's Word.