National office and branch activities.

PositionINSTITUTE NOTES - New Zealand Institute of International Affairs - Conference notes

On 1 March a panel discussion on 'The TPP and New Zealand: Where Do We Stand?' was held in Parliament's Grand Hall. Minister of Trade Hon Todd McClay hosted the event, and was also a keynote speaker. Chaired by Hon Sir Douglas Kidd, the NZIIA president, the panelists were Crawford Falconer, the Sir Graeme Harrison professorial chair at Lincoln and formerly OECD trade leader, a deputy secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade responsible for the Trade and Economy Group and ambassador to the World Trade Organisation; Emeritus Prof Gary Hawke, a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and member of the Academic Advisory Council of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia; Terence O'Brien, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies and formerly ambassador to the United Nations, European Union and the WTO-GATT; Prof Zhiyue Bo, director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre; and Colin James, political journalist and analyst and life member of New Zealand Parliament Press Gallery.

On 3 March the NZIIA was associated, along with the European Union Centres Network New Zealand, with the Delegation of the European Union to New Zealand in convening a public seminar on 'The European Commission's New Trade for All Strategy and New Zealand' presented by Helena Konig (European Commission's Directorate General Trade).

Former president of East Timor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Jose Ramos-Horta spoke at Victoria University on 9 March on the topic 'Perspectives on Global and Regional Foreign Policy Issues'.

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On 14 March the foreign minister of Iran, Javad Zarif, addressed a meeting on 'What Role now for Iran in the Middle East and the World'.

Auckland

The following meetings were held:

3 Mar HE Marina Kaljurand (foreign minister of Estonia), 'The Role of Cyber Security in Foreign Affairs and Defence'.

22 Mar Peter Kennedy (former NZIIA executive director), 'The Western Front: Shadows of the Past'.

Christchurch

The following meetings were held:

8 Mar Eldad Beck (the Berlin-based correspondent of the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth since 2002, covering Germany, Central Europe and the European Union), 'Myths and Realities of the Arab-Israel Conflict'.

15 Mar Prof William Spurlin (Brunei University, London), 'The Legacy of Nazi Persecutions against Lesbians and Gay Men in Contemporary Society'.

Hawke's Bay

On 10 March Dr Richard Grant (branch chair and former diplomat) addressed the...

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