New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully has announced thecountry's biggest scholarship scheme to provide 100 new educationscholarships, bringing the total up to 170 each year for developingASEAN countries.

The scheme is aimed at helpingASEAN countries develop emerging leaders and strengthening their civilservice capabilities, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said in a mediarelease on July 22.

It will be the biggestscholarship scheme involving New Zealand since the Colombo Plan began in1951 and is one of four initiatives that will help New Zealandstrengthen its relationship with the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN), he said.

"ASEAN has ambitiousdevelopment plans over the next five years, and New Zealand, as a keyregional partner, will offer its support by providing expertise in anumber of areas," said McCully, who is in Hanoi to attend the ASEAN-NewZealand Post Ministerial Conference, the ASEAN Regional Forum, East AsiaSummit Foreign Ministers' consultations, and the South West PacificDialogue meeting.

According to the minister, theother initiatives include a Young Business Leaders Exchange Programme,which will seek to develop a new generation of business relationships inthe region to underpin the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free TradeAgreement (AANZFTA) which came into force this year. New Zealand willalso launch programmes within ASEAN that cover agricultural developmentand disaster risk management, both areas where New Zealand expertisecomplements the needs of ASEAN member states.

Thegrowing strength and significance of New Zealand's relationship withASEAN is being matched by a dynamic increase in trade. ASEAN is now NewZealand's third-largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth around10 billion NZD last year.

This year marks 35 yearsof Dialogue Partnership between New Zealand and ASEAN, which comprisesBrunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam./.