U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit New Zealand next week as part of a three- nation trip to the Pacific region. Clinton will visit New Zealand on Jan. 15-17. She will also visit Australia and Papua New Guinea. New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said on Thursday that the visit will be a good opportunity to continue to advance the bilateral relationship with the United States. The visit will be Clinton's first to the region since becoming the top US diplomat last year. She will meet with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, Foreign Minister McCully and is expected to discuss the Obama administration's plans to dramatically step up the war against Taliban militants in Afghanistan, climate change and other issues. New Zealand has a 140-member provincial reconstruction team in Bamiyan province west of Kabul, and Key has also promised to deploy about 70 members of New Zealand's elite special forces. The last visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to New Zealand was in 2008. 