New Caledonia and New Zealand have signed an agreement to co-operate in the field of maritime surveillance and sea rescue.
The deal was initialled in Noumea by the French high commissioner, Daniel Constantin, and the New Zealand consul general, Cecile Hilliyer.
The agreement provides for annual joint exercises and for staff exchanges to learn about each other's procedures.
Mr Constantin says in an ocean as vast as the Pacific there has to be co-operation.
New Caledonia signed such a co-operation agreement with Australia in 1999.
