Suz Jessep's October 2024 CE Update
Last week the Foundation celebrated its 30th anniversary by holding an Asia Summit at Parliament. The summit brought together over 200 of our stakeholders, from those who helped establish us in the early 1990s through to the newest members of our Leadership Network.
The summit was a chance to reflect on how far we’ve come, but also to hear from a range of leading thinkers from New Zealand and offshore about how they see Asia changing and the major trends and developments we should be following closely and adapting to.
One address you might like to read was given by our Honorary Adviser and leading Thai academic, Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak. He reflected on the evolution of the Foundation within the changing context of New Zealand and Asia, and outlined some of the strengths he thinks New Zealand has and why these matter in the context of Asia.
The Summit was closed with a fantastic address by Dr Michael Fullilove, the executive director of the Lowy Institute. Lowy do a huge amount of research and polling that helps the Australian public better understand the Asia region and Australia’s place within it. It was great to hear his perspective and be reminded of how much we can learn from each other. If you haven’t seen it already, you might like to check out their Lowy Poll.
At the closing of the Summit, I took the opportunity to announce three new Foundation initiatives:
A strategic partnership with the Asia Foundation to support research and dialogues across Asia.
A Non-Resident Senior Fellows Programme, to provide New Zealanders with access to leading thinkers on Asia, and the critical changes taking place across the region and why they matter to us here in New Zealand.
A New Zealand India Entrepreneurship Initiative, to help build and support linkages between our top young innovators and their counterparts across India.
Before I move on to other topics, I’d like to thank everyone who attended the summit, especially those who spoke on or moderated panels. It was a fantastic event that we couldn’t have delivered without your support and participation.
Rt Hon Winston Peters (second left) with Foundation Founders Philip Burdon (left), Don McKinnon and former Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade Richard Nottage
I’d like to particularly acknowledge the Rt Hon Winston Peters for his closing address and Asia New Zealand Foundation Founders, Sir Don McKinnon and the Hon Philip Burden. All three have been tremendous champions of the Foundation’s work and their support has helped drive us over many years. I’d also like to acknowledge our Trustees and Honorary Advisers, and the Foundation’s previous executive directors, for the huge role they have played. Ngā mihi nui.
You can read more about the summit and watch videos of some of the panel discussions here:
While planning for the summit has been the focus for the Foundation team, there’s been lots of other great developments over the past month:
Our Arts Programme director led a fantastic group of performing arts practitioners and programmers to Korea to attend the international Performing Arts Market Seoul (PAMS) and make industry connections.
The performing artists visiting the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul
Next week (30 October) our Arts Programme is hosting an Asia After Five (AA5) event in Auckland with artists who have travelled to Japan with the Foundation’s support. They will share their experiences and observations and answer questions from the audience.
Asia After Five: NZ artists explore Japan's creative landscape - find out more and register
Next month we are leading a delegation of music programmers and promoters to Japan to attend the Tokyo International Music Market. This is the key market in North Asia for building music industry connections and for laying the groundwork for collaborations with the Japanese music industry – which is one of the highest value music markets internationally.
Our Media and Business teams have been hard at work reviewing a record number of internship applications from young journalists and students. The successful candidates will soon embark on life-changing three-month internships in newsrooms, companies and other organisations throughout Asia.
The Asia Media Centre has also awarded the latest Media Travel Grants, which give New Zealand’s journalists a chance to cover stories in Asia. First up, will be Riley Kennedy from Business Desk. Riley will be heading to China next month to cover the Shanghai Importers Expo and visit Fonterra’s new milk production facility in Wuhan.
Look out for his reporting! (Did you know New Zealand has no foreign correspondents in Asia? Not one. Without these grants it is often very hard for New Zealand journalists to get to Asia to cover the stories that matter to New Zealand).
Foundation Trustee Hone McGregor speaking at the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Experts’ Roundtable (Image: ISIS Malaysia)
Our Research and Engagement team are leading a track II delegation to Malaysia for the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Experts’ Roundtable – an annual exchange on a range of topics including political relations, defence and security, trade and economic, technology and environment.
The delegation includes trade expert and Foundation trustee Hone McGregor, Radio New Zealand Producer Collin Peacock, ASEAN New Zealand Business Council Director Kenneth Leong, and two Nextgen thought leaders: economist Brad Olsen and Kauri Tearaura.
In Malaysia, the Foundation will be joined by New Zealand’s Ambassador to ASEAN, HE Stuart Calman. You’ll be able to read about the visit in an upcoming article on the Foundation website.
Hei konā mai,
Suz Jessep
