WELLINGTON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's government will decide in September whether to formally recognize a Palestinian state, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Monday.
"The government will carefully weigh up its position over the next month on recognition of a State of Palestine," a New Zealand government statement quoted Peters as saying.
New Zealand would make its decision based on a careful assessment, guided by its own principles, values and national interests, he said, adding, "New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if."
"The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is rightly at the forefront of the global agenda," Peters said, adding he had presented an oral briefing to the cabinet on the issue, with a full discussion set for September.
New Zealand, "as a long-standing supporter of the two-state solution and Palestinian self-determination," would continue to press for a ceasefire and a political settlement enabling Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully side by side, he said.
The foreign minister stressed the need to assess whether the security, political, diplomatic and economic conditions for a viable and legitimate Palestinian state currently exist.
He will present New Zealand's position during the United Nations Leaders' Week in New York in late September. ■
