WELLINGTON, March 12 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully has rejected an accusation that his officials take a heavy-handed approach to trade negotiations with Pacific Island countries, Radio New Zealand International reported on Thursday.

    The claim came from Roman Grynberg who, until recently, was the Director of Economic Governance with the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat in Suva.

    Grynberg said New Zealand and Australian officials act in the interests of their own countries rather than for the benefit of the Pacific region.

    The New Zealand foreign minister appreciated that it's more difficult for Pacific Island countries to resource expertise.

    But he rejected accusations that New Zealand was taking advantage of this.

    "I am very careful in terms of the way I interact and I expect the officials in the ministry to be very careful to show respectful and cooperative attitudes to other members in the Forum and I think that's what we do," he was quoted as saying.