Over the past 50 years, New Zealand and China have developed the ability to work together despite their differences

The 50 years of the diplomatic relations between New Zealand and China are a cause for great celebration. It is a relationship that has been founded on mutual respect, tactful engagement and progressive attitudes and has delivered substantial benefits for both countries. It has been steeped in effective diplomacy where we have been able to meet regularly and willingly work together on matters in common, while respecting our differences.

Those attending the Auckland celebration of the 50 years of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and China welcomed the way the relationship continued to go from strength to strength and celebrated the progress made. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saw the future strength in the relationship focused on people, the planet and prosperity. Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong eloquently described the importance of focusing on direction, cooperation, friendship and enterprise as the ongoing foundation of this special connection.

New Zealand and China could not be more different yet are highly complementary in the way in which they have developed an ability to work together. During the 50 years of diplomatic relations, many milestones have been achieved, some of international significance. I have had the privilege of being involved in this relationship for the last 27 years and many of those experiences reinforce for me the importance of people-to-people contacts.

My first experience in China was in 1995 when I led the New Zealand women's delegation to the World Women Conference in Beijing. Over 80 New Zealand women from a remarkably diverse range of backgrounds, joined in what was a most memorable and important event. Women from all over the world shared our experiences together and learned from each other.

New Zealand was also vitally involved in the opening-up of China's global trade. In the 1990s, New Zealand was the first developed economy to support China's accession to the World Trade Organization and actively promoted its inclusion to other economies. This and other key areas of cooperation illustrate the willingness of New Zealand and China to participate in the design of the global architecture that allows large and small economies to thrive within a rules-based system and both countries remain strong advocates of these processes and procedures today.

During the APEC Conference in Aukland in 1999 and President Jiang Zemin's state visit, which followed, I was delighted that China and New Zealand agreed to enter into early assessments and studies for a potential free trade agreement. New Zealand was pleased to share its expertise and to work with China for mutual benefit, which concluded in 2008 with the first free trade agreement China entered into with another nation. This agreement led to a leap in two-way trade flows between our two nations to the huge mutual benefit of us both and we continue to explore ways to enhance the full potential of this and new regional trade agreements together.

People-to-people cooperation during that period and subsequently has been a flourishing aspect of the relationship. Tourism exchanges, where people share in each other's culture, geography and priorities, has proved a great strength, and contributed to increased mutual understanding. The education sector is another area that has thrived, not only in economic terms, but in the mutual understanding gained by students who have been able to share their study years. The service sector has also contributed.

I have personally had the privilege of sharing my experience in State-owned enterprise reform in the Chinese banking sector as China worked to bring the sector into WTO compliance. I served as a director of China Construction Bank globally and then chaired the CCB branch in New Zealand. Two other New Zealanders, Murray Horn, former secretary of the treasury for New Zealand and Graeme Wheeler, the former head of the Reserve Bank, followed, all of us sharing our unique insights through mutual exchange and in doing so both economies and societies have benefitted.

I continue to observe the power of diplomacy through my work as a director of the Boao Forum for Asia, the Davos equivalent in Asia, and as China has become the second-largest economy in the world and the Asian economies now account for more than 50 percent of the global economy in GDP terms, this engagement has allowed me to both contribute and gain enormous insight into the ongoing development and prosperity that collaboration and cooperation within, and across economies, can achieve.

As a director of the China-based International Finance Forum, I see diplomacy in action and the results contribute to the intellectual rigor required in the ongoing design of global financial architecture and green finance innovation. The IFF's Green Finance global awards competition which runs annually is seeing international participants looking at the ways in which finance can be used to achieve green outcomes and is world-leading in its intellectual concept and potential contribution.

All globally relevant diplomatic exchanges allow those involved, including New Zealand and China, to be present together, to cooperate, collaborate and share. In doing so, decisive direction, an inclusive environment and a deepening of friendships and understanding, further enhance the potential for peace and prosperity in the future.

Both New Zealand and China are unique nations with remarkable histories, and each in our own way have much to contribute to the mutual benefit of our people, our region, and the world, through our highly valued diplomatic and bilateral relationship with each other.

We have both gained much in our first 50 years of working together. Now, the key principles outlined by both governments at this important moment in history, lay the solid foundation for how we can work to secure a successful future.

I congratulate every individual, enterprise and leader who has contributed to this successful relationship to date and hope that future prosperity and progress will be our collective experience in the years to come.

The author is former prime minister of New Zealand and a board member of the International Finance Forum. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.