Southern Link Events
We have been a key contributor to a number of activities designed to advance the new Southern Link initiative that is positioning New Zealand as a hub between Asia and South America.
In late June we funded the participation of Loreto Leyton, the Executive Director of ABAC 2019, in a major conference announcing this initiative in Auckland. Around that event, too, we organised two events in which Loreto introduced Chile’s and ABAC’s goals for the current APEC year to our own stakeholders, as well as a presentation from a delegation from Argentina’s Council for International Relations (CARI).
The first of these events was the CARI seminar, which was organised with the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) and held in Wellington on June 24th before a large and appreciative lunchtime audience.
Ambassador Eduardo Sadous, Dr Jorge Malena and Patricio Giusto delivered crisp and wide-ranging observations on the theme “Looking Our Way: Argentina’s views on New Zealand, China and the Asia-Pacific” – noting, for example, how New Zealand and Argentina have much in common as they respond to China’s rise. We look forward to discussing these themes further with them.
Three days later Loreto Leyton outlined new opportunities for businesses that have emerged through Chile’s APEC Year at a breakfast in Auckland hosted with the LANZBC and the two other CAPEs on June 27th.
As the organiser of this year’s ABAC summit for member economies in November, Loreto is at the centre of decision-making on how to implement the summit theme, “Inclusive and Collaborative Growth in the Digital Era”. Everyone present was fascinated by her account, and you can see an outline of her presentation here. To share her insights more widely, Loreto also shared her insights the next day to an equally captivated audience at another NZIIA lunchtime seminar in Wellington, this time hosted by Chapman Tripp.
Since these events we have also joined a group of key businesses in developing the Southern Link concept further and been charged with leading its academic dimensions. We will keep you updated on the progress of this initiative as it unfolds.
