Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, and Minister for Immigration and Asylum of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, is on an official visit to Australia and New Zealand this week at the invitation of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, Brook Barrington.
His visit sees him in Wellington New Zealand on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 September, before traveling to Canberra and Sydney in Australia from 28 to 30 September 2016.
In Wellington, Minister Asselborn will meet, in addition to Secretary of State, Brook Barrington, the Immigration Minister, Budget Minister and Minister of Relations and Workplace Safety, Michael Woodhouse. In Canberra, Minister Asselborn will meet with the Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, and Secretary of State for Immigration and Border Protection, Alex Hawke. The meetings will first take stock of bilateral relations and the Grand Duchy has with New Zealand and Australia. Discussions will also provide an opportunity to address topics of common concern and to review various issues of international news. In addition, Minister Asselborn will visit Sydney, to meet with Jason Collins, President and CEO of the European Australian Business Council, to discuss issues of common interest in the economic field.
During his visit, Minister Asselborn will, along with the New Zealand and Australian authorities, sign the Working Holiday Programme agreements (also called the "Working Holiday Scheme") with the two countries. Upon completion of internal procedures, these programmes allow qualified young Luxembourgers, aged between 18 and 30, to perform a stay of a duration of one year in New Zealand or Australia, during which they are free to travel, and also to work or study, on the basis of reciprocity.
During the visit to New Zealand and Australia, Minister Asselborn will also lay a wreath at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington and the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, commemorating the enormous sacrifices made by these two countries in Europe during World War I, at the time of the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.
