National Office and branch activities.

• Position: INSTITUTE NOTES

On 23 August David O'Sullivan, chief operating officer of the European External Action Service, spoke on 'Europe in the World: A Changing Europe and its Foreign Policy' at a meeting at Victoria University of Wellington.

A panel discussion on "The Indonesian Diaspora, Stay or Return? The Dilemma Facing Overseas Students' was held on 23 August under the chairmanship of Wellington branch chair Peter Nichols.

On 11 September Sir Michael Leigh, senior advisor to the German Marshall Fund, addressed a meeting at Victoria University on the provocative subject "The United Kingdom and the EU: The Slippery Slope to Withdrawal?'

On 1 October Christian Schmidt, the German parliamentary state secretary of defence, addressed a meeting on 'German Security Policy and Transformation of the Bundeswehr [German Defence Force]'.

The final event in the Improving Global Governance series, run by the Institute of Governance and Public Policy and the NZIIA, was held on 16 October. The speakers included Dr Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Consortium and a specialist in global water issues; Dr Christine Padoch, an anthropologist and currently the director of the Forests and Livelihoods Programme, CIFOR, Indonesia; and Professor Chris Moran of the Sustainable Minerals Institute, Australia (global mineral issues).

On 25 October the Swiss ambassador, Marion Weichelt Krupski, addressed a meeting on 'Governance Swiss Style'.

At a meeting at Victoria University of Wellington jointly hosted by the NZIIA and the European Union Centres Network on 8 November, Helga Schmid, deputy-secretary-general for political affairs in the European Union's European External Action Service, gave the 2012 Europa Lecture. She spoke on 'The EU's Response to Security Challenges in its Wider Neighbourhood and in Asia'.

A new NZIIA branch was established in Tauranga on 25 October 2012.

Auckland

The following meetings were held: 20 Aug Stephen Jacobi (executive director of both the NZ US Council and the New Zealand International Business Forum), 'The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)--Corporate Dream or Vehicle for Growth'.

19 Sep Tony Browne (chair of both the New Zealand Contemporary China Centre Advisory Board and the VUW'S Confucius Institute, member of the New Zealand China Council Executive Board and former New Zealand ambassador to China), 'New Zealand's Relations with the People's Republic of China'.

Christchurch

On 31...