Conference Report from Bernie Richmond, Conference Convenor
The NZCFS Annual Conference was held in Wellington over the weekend of 27-29 May 2011 hosted by the Wellington
Branch. The Theme was “China & New Zealand: The Next Decade”.
The opening on Friday evening by the Deputy Mayor of Wellington, Councilor Ian McKinnon was preceded by a Drinks & Nibbles hour after which the Wellington Branch President welcomed the delegates, the National President Eric Livingstone spoke and the Deputy Mayor opened the conference. Some 60 people attended. Mr John Forster of The Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, the main conference sponsor, also spoke.
The keynote address, titled “NZ-China Relations: Beyond the Four Firsts”, was given by Professor Xiaoming Huang, Director of the NZ Contemporary China Research Centre.
Saturday saw the attendance of 80 people representing all 15 branches to hear the National President’s address and presentations by eight speakers over a wide range of topics. These presentations will be available on the Society website should you wish to read them.
We were honoured by a Delegation of four from the CPAFFC (Youxie) in Beijing led by Mr Qing Boming. Mrs Pat Tauroa of the NZ China Maori Friendship Charitable Trust also attended and addressed the conference.
The Conference Celebration Banquet on Saturday night was attended by over 100 delegates, members and friends. Also present were the Charge d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy, Mr Cheng Lei, his wife Qiao Li and Embassy staff and a representative of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.
Light entertainment interspersed the various courses of the Chinese Banquet by the OrientExpress Band ably led by Dr Luo Hui of the Wellington Confucius Institute at Victoria University who had earlier in the afternoon addressed the conference on “Building Relations Between China and New Zealand”.
Sunday saw an early start for the Annual General Meeting of the Society and election of the National President and National Executive Officers for 2011-2012.
Reports on the activities of the Society and Branches over the past year were tabled at the meeting.
I have received many complimentary emails etc. from attendees expressing appreciation for the caliber of the speakers and variety of topics presented and thanks for one, if not, the best Annual Conference of the Society.
All in all a very successful conference was hosted by the Branch and I would compliment and express my personal thanks to all of the Wellington Branch members who so willingly gave a great deal of their time to make this conference the success it was.
Some Presentations
The final programme is shown below, with links to the presentations where they are available.
Friday 27 May
6.00 pm Welcome by Wellington Branch President Bernie Richmond
Official Opening by Councillor Ian McKinnon, Deputy Mayor of Wellington
National President Eric Livingstone
Mr John Forster, HSBC
Keynote Speaker: Professor Xiaoming Huang, Director of the NZ Contemporary China Research Centre:
“NZ-China Relations: Beyond the Four Firsts”
Saturday 28 May 22 May
9.00 am National President’s Address
9.15 am Mr Cheng Lei, Chargé d’Affaires, Chinese Embassy:
“China’s Scientific Development, Opportunity for the World” (large file, 4.8MB)
“Wenchuan Earthquake: Restoration and Reconstruction” (large file, 9.0MB)
10.15 am Mr David Feickert:
“A Better Way of Dealing with Disasters in China and NZ”
10.45 am Ms Laytee George:
“The Teaching of Chinese in NZ Schools: The Rotorua Experience”
11.15 am Mr Stuart Ferguson:
“The Misconceptions of the Difficulties in Trading with China”
1.15 pm Dr Les Molloy:
“The New Zealand Involvement in the World Heritage Sites in China”
1.45 pm Mr Dave Bromwich:
2.15 pm Dr Luo Hui:
“The Confucius Institute Model: Building Relations Between China and NZ”
3.15 pm Mr Richard Nottage:
“NZ and Asia: Evolving Relationships”
3.45 pm National Executive Session – Addresses by:
Mr Qing Boming, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
Mrs Pat Tauroa, NZ China Maori Friendship Trust
Mr Eric Livingstone, National President
Mr Dave Adamson, Member of Christchurch Branch
Wenchuan Earthquake:
Restoration and Reconstruction
