17 September 2000 Media Advisory

Cullen's overseas itinerary

Finance Minister Michael Cullen flies to Frankfurt today for a whirlwind two-week series of international conferences.

His itinerary takes him to Frankfurt, Malta, Paris, Prague, London and Singapore.

He will attend the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in Malta, meet wth senior OECD officials in Paris and attend IMF/World Bank Meetings in Prague. Dr Cullen will visit London on his return where he will meet the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Eddie George, promote New Zealand as an investment destination and visit the London office of Standard and Poors.

Frankfurt

Monday
12 noon. Speech to Investors' Luncheon, Commerzbank.

While in Frankfurt, Dr Cullen will call on the President of the European Central Bank, Dr Willem Duisenberg and will meet Dr Josef Ackermann, a member of the Deutsche Bank board.

Malta

Tuesday
6 pm. Opening ceremony Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting.

The Meeting runs through Wednesday and Thursday morning. While in Malta, he will meet with the Malaysian Deputy Minister of Finance, Datuk Dr Haji Shafie Mohd Salleh, and the UK Economic Secretary, Melanie Johnson.

Dr Cullen leaves Malta for Paris on Thursday afternoon, arriving at Paris in the evening.

Paris

Friday
Dr Cullen meets with the Deputy Secretary of the OECD, Dr Thorvald Moe, the Director of Country Studies, Val Koromzay, the Director of Policy Studies, Michael Feiner, and various other senior OECD officials.
Topics for discussion include: the world economic outlook, policies for growth, ageing and international tax issues. He travels to Prague on Sunday.

Prague

Monday
Dr Cullen will use the opportunity of the IMF/World Bank Meetings to conduct a series of bi-laterals. Many of these will be arranged on arrival. Those confirmed already include:, Korean Minister of Finance, Nyum Jin, Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Kavan, Managing Director World Bank, Sven Sandstrom and Mexican Secretary of Finance, Jose Angel Gurria.

Dr Cullen is also hoping to secure a bil-lateral with British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.

Dr Cullen flies to London on Wednesday.

London

Thursday
Dr Cullen attends three investors' meetings, one hosted by Barclays' Capital, one by the National Australasian Bank and one by UBS Warburg.

He also calls on Sir Eddie George, on Merill Lynch International and on Standard and Poors.

He will deliver a speech to the UBS Warburg Investor Luncheon. Notes will be circulated around the New Zealand media.

ENDS

© Scoop Media