Mike Moore says 'it's time to come home' from Washington
After five years as ambassador the US, the former prime minister says his 'body gave up."
New Zealand’s ambassador to the US since 2010, Mike Moore, 66, is leaving the post in the middle of next month and returning home.
In an email sent to staff and news agencies in Washington DC, "Yvonne and I are giving notice to MFAT [the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade] that we will be leaving the post just before Christmas on the 16th December," he says.
Mr Moore was one of the youngest MPs elected to Parliament and was briefly prime minister before Labour was defeated in the 1990 election.
He left politics and was selected for a brief term as director-general of the World Trade Organisation.
He had a minor stroke in April this year, has been treated for cancer and has had heart surgery.
In the email he refers to medical tests and surgery. " … we will not be able to have the kind of thank you’s that are normal so we will combine the Staff Christmas Party with our farewell to you.”
He also says Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and MFAT "have been very generous and kind to us," referring to his wife Yvonne.
Mr Moore also reflects about closer military ties between the US and New Zealand.
"On a security level things have moved up several notches. You are aware of the many exercises we do together and the important contribution we are making in the struggle against ISIS," he says.
He says he's also been progressing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
“… we have worked to getting acceptance for this by Congress. I believe it will be forthcoming. It will be a question of time.
"In my political life I have always been in the wrong place at the wrong time but the mission I was given here was correct and the timing was right."
He says he and Yvonne will "go home content that we did our best. Pity the old body gave up."
Due to Mr Moore’s illness, diplomat Carl Worker has been charge d'affaires in recent months.
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Nevil Gibson
Sat, 21 Nov 2015
Sat, 21 Nov 2015
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