Important to NZ’s Asia ambitions

Honorary Advisers’ visit important to NZ’s Asia ambitions – Burdon

The Asia New Zealand Foundation will this week host a group of distinguished Asian dignitaries to New Zealand as part of its ongoing contribution to cross-sector efforts to promote New Zealand Inc in the Asian region.

Asia New Zealand Foundation Chair Philip Burdon says the ten highly talented and influential visitors representing eight Asian countries are members of the Foundation’s Honorary Advisers Network.

“Our Honorary Advisers represent spectacularly well-connected talent in their home countries and it is to New Zealand’s advantage and privilege that they are committed to advocating for New Zealand in a region that is becoming a strategic priority,” Mr Burdon said.

He said it was a mark of their status and influence that during their stay, the group will be hosted by New Zealand’s Governor General the Right Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand, the Prime Minister John Key and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully.

Former head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi is among the Honorary Advisers group that will travel to New Zealand. Dr Supachai was the deputy prime minister of Thailand before becoming Director General of the WTO and is currently Secretary General of UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Singapore's Education Minister and Second Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Vice President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries Li Xiaolin, former Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofume Nakasone, and a number of business and education leaders are among the advisers who will travel to Auckland and Wellington next week.

The countries that will be represented in New Zealand for this week’s Honorary Advisers meeting are Indonesia, China, Vietnam, India, Singapore, Japan and Thailand.

A group of the Honorary Advisers also met in Singapore in February last year where they discussed New Zealand’s changing demographics and increasing number of Asian people. The advisers concluded this was to New Zealand’s and the Foundation’s advantage as the country worked towards building a greater awareness of New Zealand in Asia and of Asia in New Zealand.

The visit by the Honorary Advisers group will coincide with the launch of the latest Asia New Zealand Foundation Outlook report. The New Zealand’s Diaspora in China: Untapped Resources report was prepared by Auckland University researchers Associate Professor Elsie Ho, Professor Manying Ip and Joanna Lewin and will be launched today.

The report examines three diaspora groups; New Zealanders living in China, Chinese living in New Zealand, and returned Chinese migrants who once lived or studied in New Zealand. The report outlines the contemporary migration between New Zealand and China and discusses the potential connections these diaspora communities have with New Zealand.

For more information about the Asia New Zealand Foundation Honorary Advisers Network and the New Zealand’s Diaspora in China report, visit www.asianz.org.nz.

ENDS

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