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The European Union Ambassador to New Zealand Nina Obermaier during a visit to Nelson.

European Union ambassador Nina Obermaier has found a lot to love about New Zealand.

Her family, evidently, has too. So much so that her Year 11 son has decided to stay on for the last two years of his schooling here, even though Obermaiers posting finishes at the end of November.

While the native German came to Aotearoa in part because she was interested in learning how Europe is seen from the South Pacific, Kiwis are equally as curious to discover how they are perceived by the continent from which many trace their ancestry.

Everybody loves New Zealand, Obermaier told the Nelson Mail during a visit to the city last week.

I don't know what you've done. But there's so much love and sympathy for New Zealanders in general.

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Aside from the countrys spectacular nature, Obermaier said Kiwis abroad were probably the best ambassadors for their country, just because of their relaxed and friendly nature.

They were also skilled negotiators, she said, in the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, and in climate negotiations pushing positions that the EU was less flexible in pursuing. You put your best and brightest in the things that really matter.

Obermaiers term in New Zealand has been eventful. At the beginning of the pandemic, she had to help get 20,000 European citizens out of the country who were stranded here when the borders closed.

Several European countries organised charter flights, largely for their own citizens but with a percentage reserved for other vulnerable EU citizens.

But they said, we cant take care of the passenger lists, you will have to do that. So then in our office, we then tried to find these stranded teenagers that had come for an exchange year or people that had come into an accident that needed to be repatriated as quickly as possible and get them on these flights.

In the following 18 months or so New Zealand enjoyed its Covid-free status and Obermaier and her family got to discover the country without any tourists.

Obermaier speaks six languages she can work in her native German and in English, French and Dutch. She also speaks Spanish and Polish.

Before coming to New Zealand she was the lead negotiator for the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in the Brexit negotiations. In the 20 years the former journalist has been working for the European Union, she has also covered Israel and the West Bank/Gaza, information society and e-government, protections and crisis management and negotiations with Switzerland.

Is New Zealand a cakewalk in comparison?

Its very rare to be fazed in New Zealand, Obermaier replied, because of the non-confrontational nature of your way of operating as New Zealanders.

I think thats really remarkable.

The ambassador was in Nelson last week, visiting Wakat Incorporation, which is twinned with the Danish city of Lemvig via an EU urban sustainability project, the Cawthron Institute to discuss increased opportunities to partner with European researchers, and Talleys to learn more about its mussels and their potential to be Geographical Indications (GIs), such as French champagne.

Obermaier also gave a speech to the Nelson branch of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, and spoke with Nelson MP Rachel Boyack and mayor Nick Smith.

Shes keen to raise awareness of New Zealands Free Trade Agreement with Europe, signed in 2022.

There are very concrete business opportunities for Nelson producers and exporters, Obermaier said.

Because as of day one of the FTA entering into force, which we can expect to happen next year, all horticulture, all seafood products, all timber can enter the EU market tariff free.

View post:
Kiwis relaxed, friendly and good negotiators, says EU diplomat - Stuff