Institute Notes.

National Office and branch activities.

In the week beginning on 19 February, the President, Sir Kenneth Keith, visited Geneva to take part in a meeting of the International Fact Finding Commission set up under the Red Cross conventions. Despite a heavy work load in his capacity as a Judge of the Court of Appeal, he visited Hamilton in March to address the Waikato branch. He had already addressed those in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and talked informally to members in Dunedin.

On 15 February, the National Office ran a round table discussion on China and the United States in 2001. It was led by Professor Yang Jiemian, Director of the Department of American Studies at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies. A note of the discussion appears elsewhere in this issue. Professor Yang has since confirmed that he and several of his colleagues will visit New Zealand again towards the end of August, to take part in seminars both in Auckland and in Wellington on `The Asia-Pacific Region: Policy Challenges for the Coming Decade'. These seminars will serve as background to the APEC summit that is to take place in Shanghai in November.

The National Office also joined the Institute of Policy Studies, the Asian Studies Institute and the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington in hosting round table discussions led by two Japanese visitors. On 27 February Professor Tsuneo Sugishita spoke on `Oceania and Asia: Joint Effort in Economic Development'. On 12 March Professor Toshihiko Kinoshita addressed the question `Will There Be Another "Asian Crisis"?'

On 3 April the 25th birthday of the NZIR was celebrated at a dinner at Cafe Menton. A number of past editors and directors joined current NZIR staff for an enjoyable function, at which the chairman of the NZIR committee, Andrew Wierzbicki, gave a brief address. Sir Kenneth Keith presented Dr Ian McGibbon with a framed certificate to mark his twentieth year of editing the magazine.

The next big event in the calendar is the NZIIA's Annual Dinner. It is to be held on Friday 11 May, with Hon Phil Goff as speaker. The National Council will, as usual, meet the following day. After lunch, Hon Lockwood Smith will speak on `Protectionism'. His talk will be open to...