APEC NZ Voices 2008: Christchurch, New Zealand!

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July 30th 2008

Published: August 27th 2008

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cindyatmonash

Welcome!

Welcome to APEC session with university officials and APEC NZ Trustees

Well, as I mentioned in my previous posting, I headed down to Christchurch, NZ in July for two weeks of work/site-seeing. As you saw from my other pictures, the city was so fantastic! I loved being able to travel around and find beautiful scenery, very kind people, and a variety of wonderful attractions all around the city. However, the main reason I spent some time in Christchurch was my involvement with the New Zealand APEC Voices Program.

Many of you know that I work with the Virtual Trade Mission International (VTMI) in organising APEC events. For those that don't know about this, I began my involvement with APEC as a student representative with the Furman team sent to Santiago, Chile in November 2004. Ever since that trip my sophomore year, it seems that the travel bug has definitely bitten me, to the point that I began working with APEC and the VTMI in planning the trip to Busan, South Korea in November 2005. I've been very fortunate to head to South Korea, Hanoi Vietnam, and Sydney Australia! It has been a great opportunity!

APEC stands for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. This international forum, comprising of 21 member economies

Welcome-David

David Ward, Director of NZ Trust, welcoming the students

(not countries because of involvement by Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong) gather every year for a set of meetings/discussions/presentations concerning trade liberalisation and facilitation within the APEC region. Each year, the focus of APEC becomes more specific, depending on the host economy. In the past, we have focused on cultural issues, sustainability, technological advancement, and boosting business and economic growth in the region.

The VTMI actually organises a delegation of students from all of the member economies which travels to the APEC business and leaders summit each year. Because many of the students represent different economies, there is a great deal of cultural experiences that are achieved between the delegations. Also, students are tasked to attend meetings alongside Presidents, CEOs, Heads of State, and Foreign Ministers, in the hope of bridging the gap between youth and the business/economic sector of the APEC region. Students also participate in interviews with these leaders where they have an opportunity to interact with leaders on a more personal scale and gain a wealth of knowledge about APEC's success, its goals, and in some cases, they have been able to provide feedback to the leaders!

I have been so lucky to have had

Opening Address

Opening Keynote Speaker Stephen Payton, NZ Senior Official for APEC

the opportunity to experience APEC both as a 'citizen diplomat' (we are not students on those trips 😊!) and as a Program Fellow with the VTMI. Each year, New Zealand holds a mini APEC program, which selects the NZ delegates who will represent the country at the APEC conference. Much as the scale I have described above, NZ students have the opportunity to practise their interviewing skills and hear from a variety of local and international business leaders and senior officials of APEC in their mid year program.

This year was the first year I have had the chance to see the NZ Voices Program. Students from several universities, high schools, and both islands came down to Christchurch for the four day conference. Convening on the historic campus of Christ's College, these students had the opportunity to hear from many high profile government leaders from New Zealand, multi-million dollar entrepreneurs, and university educators. In addition, students broke into groups and completed individual interviews and published snapshot summaries of their interviews. These 'snapshots' are published to the NZ website, as well as to the website of the VTMI. They serve as a library of leaders to which all students contribute

Evening Address

Mr. Tony Nowell, ABAC Member from NZ (ABAC is the business council of APEC)

each year. This library is then sent around the world, in order to use in classrooms and educational arenas where students are able to plug in and get an idea of what is going on all around the world! It's a fantastic VIRTUAL tool that is compiled by students and available to everyone!

The result of the APEC summit in NZ is that four university students were selected to travel to Lima for this year's conference! Another four high school students were selected to return to the NZ program next year! It was such a well organised and interesting event that I'm very happy I had an opportunity to attend!! Please enjoy the pictures I had a chance to take while there!!

Cheers,

Cindy 😊

Additional photos below

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