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NEW ZEALAND is to build a £1 million war memorial in central London to recognise the long-standing ties between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced.
Later this year, an Australian memorial will be unveiled in Hyde Park.
New Zealand's memorial, expected to be completed in 2005, will sit diagonally opposite the Australian one, on the large circle of land that houses the Wellington Arch.
The New Zealand High Commission in London had been working with Westminster City Council, Royal Parks and English Heritage on the plan.
Mrs Clark said the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, would manage the design and construction of the project.
"Our government has decided that it is important that New Zealand's outstanding contribution to the allied cause in two world wars and alongside British forces in many other deployments should not go unrecognised," she said.
Mrs Clark said many Commonwealth countries had built memorials in London. Canada had one in Green Park, and recently gates on Constitution Hill had been erected in honour of the contributions to the allied defence by India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean and African nations.