Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee leaves today to attend the Counter-Daesh Defence Ministers’ Meeting being hosted by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter in Washington on 20 July.

He will also represent New Zealand at the Counter Daesh Foreign Ministers’ Meeting being hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry, also in Washington, on 21 July.

“As we have seen recently, Daesh continues to pose a significant threat not only to the citizens of Iraq and Syria but also the wider world,” Mr Brownlee says.

“These meetings provide an important opportunity to engage with other partners involved in the global coalition to counter the threat posed by Daesh.

“Receiving first-hand observations from those in the field and ensuring a coordinated response to tackling Daesh is important.

“We will be discussing the progress being made across all the coalition lines of effort, including the military campaign.”

New Zealand has around 100 troops alongside 300 Australians undertaking a Building Partner Capacity mission at Taji Military Base near Baghdad.

New Zealand’s commitment to this mission was recently extended until November 2018 and the Government has agreed, in principle, to training stabilisation forces required to ensuring law and order in Iraqi towns, cities and territories won back from Daesh.

A press release from the office of Gerry Brownlee