National office and branch activities.

• Position: Institute Notes

On 19 February New Zealand First leader Rt Hon Winston Peters addressed a meeting at VUW on 'New Zealand in the World: Challenges We Must Meet'. (The edited text of his address is to be found elsewhere in this issue.)

Lieutenant-General (retired) Agus Widjojo (chair of the Executive Board, Yayasan Indonesia Cerdas Unggul and senior fellow at the CSIS Jakarta) gave a lecture on 'Democratisation in Indonesia and the Role of the Armed Forces' on 25 February.

On 5 March Ehud Yaari (analyst and commentator) addressed a meeting at VUW on 'Implications of a Turbulent Middle East'.

On 3 April, in association with the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre, the NZIIA arranged a meeting at VUW to hear HE Wang Lutong, China's ambassador in New Zealand, speak on 'New Zealand and China: Looking Ahead, What China's Comprehensive Reform Means for New Zealand'.

On 4 April, in association with the Latin America New Zealand Business Council, the NZIIA convened a panel discussion at Parliament. After Trade Minister Hon Tim Groser made some observations on his recent visit to Chile and Colombia, Charles Finny, chairman of Education New Zealand (who visited Latin America with the prime minister in March and led an education delegation there in November) and Professor Warwick Murray, director of the Victoria Institute for Links with Latin America (VILLA), gave some ideas on taking the relationship forward. A panel of ambassadors from Latin America then commented on these ideas.

Auckland

The following meetings were held:

24 Feb Frans Timmermans (Netherlands foreign minister), 'Europe and Oceania: The Role of Shared Values in Facing the Rise of Asia'. 10 Mar Prof Rosemary Foot, 'Present-day Security Tensions in the Asia--Pacific Region'. Christchurch The following meetings were held: 11 Feb Frank Feinstein (data analyst and media researcher), 'Inside the North Korean Propaganda Machine'. 20 Feb Katharne Vadura (adjunct senior fellow at the University of Canterbury's National Centre for Research on Europe), 'Incorporating Rights in Disaster-Development: The European Union and the Pacific'. 25 Mar Prof Natalie Chaban (Jean Monnet Chair in European Identity at the University of Canterbury and president of the Ukrainian Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand), 'Ukraine: Where the Heart of Europe Beats'. 1 Apr Prof Rosemary Foot, 'Asia-Pacific Security Tensions and Their Management in an Era of Independence'. The branch AGM was held on 12 March...