INSTITUTE NOTES.

• Position: Brief Article

National Office and branch activities.

On 18 August a group from the NZIIA, including the President, Sir Kenneth Keith, and the Director, Bryce Harland, visited the US Ambassador, Carol Moseley Braun, at the US Embassy in Wellington for a brief ceremony at which Professor Steve Hoadley presented her with a copy of his new book New Zealand United States Relations, Friends no Longer Allies.

Palmerston North

The branch hosted four winter meetings this year, all of which were well attended. On 8 June, Richard Mann, Deputy Director of the Trade Negotiations Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, delivered a very comprehensive and informative address at Massey University on contemporary trade issues and challenges facing New Zealand. His visit also provided student members of the local branch with an opportunity to ask questions about the work of the Ministry.

On 5 July, Professor James McCormick of Iowa State University gave an illuminating talk on American foreign policy to the branch at the International Pacific College. This was the second time that Professor McCormick, a specialist on both America's role in world affairs and US-New Zealand relations, had spoken to the Palmerston North branch. The branch appreciated the support provided by the US Embassy for Professor McCormick's visit to Palmerston North, coming as it did after his presentation to the Otago Foreign Policy School in Dunedin.

The third winter speaker was the New Zealand Army's Major Nick Nelson, who served as second in command for the initial New Zealand battalion deployed to East Timor. Major Nelson, who has recently returned to nearby Linton Camp (where he is assisting in the preparation of the third New Zealand battalion which will be deployed in East Timor); spoke of the deployment of the battalion to the Suai area, the major challenges it faced and some of the lessons which had arisen from the deployment.

Finally on 23 August the branch had the pleasure of hearing US Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun speak on the increasing democratisation of diplomacy. To a packed house at the...