Have John Key’s brief contacts with Barack Obama been sufficient to secure an invitation to the White House next year? Observers in New York and Washington believe despite the absence of a formal bilateral meeting (Gordon Brown didn’t get a one-on-one in New York, leading to speculation in the UK press he had been snubbed over Libyan issues) several green shoots can be detected in the US-NZ relationship. The Govt is working to a carefully co-ordinated timetable, with initiatives over the whole range of the relationship. The PM is in control of the programme, but is working closely with other Ministers. He approved the withdrawal of NZ from a seat at the UN Human Rights Council in favour of the US. He has exchanged letters with Obama and had warm discussions on the telephone with the President.

Fortuitously, just ahead of his New York visit he announced the SAS were back in Afghanistan. His trade and climate change pronouncements have been well received in Washington. Key got an attentive hearing in the UN General Assembly. It is expected the APEC summit will present another opportunity for Key to nurture the personal relationship with Obama. Meanwhile Foreign Minister Murray McCully has developed a close working relationship with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with whom he had two meetings in New York last week. At a different level the US-NZ partnership dialogue in Washington next week aims to build a “value proposition” for closer engagement between the 2 countries.

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