Trade Minister Damien O’Connor has joined a staged “walkout” of a trade meeting in protest over Russia’s participation.
O’Connor attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum ministers’ meeting in Thailand over the weekend, and joined his colleagues from Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Korea, and the United States in the protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A spokesman for O’Connor confirmed he walked out of the meeting as Russia’s Economy Minister, Maxim Reshetnikov, spoke. He later returned to the meeting.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, said on Monday the Government wanted to continue its participation in forums that Russia attended and to express “strong condemnation”.
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"From time to time, of course, we may choose at the same time to send a message [by walking out] when the Russian representative is speaking.
"There have been a number of circumstances now where there has been an international forum where Russia has been present, and while those events have continued, at the point that the Russian representative has made their contribution you have seen walkouts from often many countries at once.”
The US in April led a walkout of a G20 meeting.
O’Connor has not spoken directly about the action but he has posted on social media a joint statement from the countries involved.
“We condemn in the strongest terms, the unprovoked war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine.
“We express our grave concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation and at the threatening of food and energy security in the world caused by Russia’s actions, which has further destabilised the global economy and global supply chains as well as undermined our ability to recover from Covid-19.”
Russian news outlet TASS reported that Reshetnikov claimed the Western countries were “politicising” Apec.
The meeting did not end with Apec ministers agreeing on a statement, Bloomberg reported. Thailand’s Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit reportedly said the 21 Apec countries had failed to reach agreement.
Thailand’s year to host Apec, an annual multilateral forum for countries across the region to discuss trade and economic matters, comes after New Zealand hosted the 2021 event virtually.
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