NZIIA: an important milestone 1934-2009: Sir Anand Satyanand pays tribute to the NZIIA's achievements over the last 75 years.

• Author: Satyanand, Anand
• Position: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs - Viewpoint essay

On any score 75 years encompasses a respectable passage of history. During this rime, maps of the world have been redrawn, and redrawn again; and international relationships have thrived, withered, and, in some cases, been obliterated.

When the NZIIA was established by fourteen people in the Wellington home of the founding president, W. Downie Stewart, in July 1934, Adolf Hitler was Chancellor of Germany, though not yet Fuhrer. He was to become the head of state a month or so later; and New Zealanders were subsequently to be reminded how decisions taken elsewhere in the world could have a profound effect on their own lives.

This, of course, continues to be the case. We are, to use the words of the then President, Sir Brian Talboys, 25 years ago at the NZIIA's 50th anniversary conference, 'utterly dependent on the outside world'. To put it another way, with apologies to John Donne, no man is an island but, even more, no island is an island entire of itself.

Here in this far away South Pacific nation, we are warmed or chilled by the currents of world affairs, and it is essential that we have, as Sir Brian Talboys also said:

the widest possible knowledge and appreciation of what is happening out there, how it can affect us, and what we can do about it. The Institute has a central role and a great responsibility to ensure that this knowledge is widely spread. On this anniversary I respectfully endorse fully Sir Brian's words. The role of fostering informed public discussion and understanding of international developments affecting New Zealand remains hugely important. As an independent body, the NZIIA provides credible, impartial, and expert analysis, having neither a policy barrow to push nor a political axe to grind. I say this with all proper respect, of course, to those who may have considerable experience with handcarts or bladed implements!

Through its publications, and its lecture and seminar programmes, the NZIIA creates opportunities for sharing information and understanding. It helps us to learn the back story to the front page news; and it illuminates issues from more than one perspective, so that areas of shadow are diminished.

Crucial role

All this I believe to be as crucial to New Zealand's constructive response to the international imperatives of the 21st century as it has been in the past--even though the technologies of modern times have enabled new kinds of forums, in printed and electronic form, for example.

Those gathered at...