Within the New Zealand Parliament, the importance of Asia for New Zealand receives a bi-partisan endorsement.

The New Zealand National Party, has established an Asian Relationships portfolio. Just this year the New Zealand Government established a Ministerial taskforce focusing on the relationship with Asia and providing strategic development.

The resurgence of interest and commitment from the top level to our relationship with Asia should be sustained on a broader basis than solely an economic one. This would then avoid repeating the extent of the shock and slow down of our interaction with the region during 1997-1998 Asian economic crises.

The growth in Asian migration, and the number of international students and tourists to visit our country have not always been as smooth as they could be, but nonetheless they have ensured that our exchanges have extended beyond commerce.

The biggest challenge facing New Zealand politicians in engaging with Asia on a much larger trade scale as well as socially is to take our people, New Zealanders, with us.

As a nation of four million people, our human and financial resources are stretched, and I plead with you all to take a proactive role in engaging us as well. From this end I would like to ask the conference to investigate setting up a database of Asian resource and research centres, and a funding mechanism for regional initiatives that aim to promote understanding among the public within Asia.

New Zealand has a bi-cultural historical make-up, and we are advancing towards a multi-cultural future. In the last century and even now, we sometimes struggle to live in harmony with each other. Some historic scars are still raw but we will confront them slowly and surely.

This year the New Zealand National Party extended an invitation for China’s Communist Party to be observers at our national conference and I hope the conference can endorse reciprocal arrangements of this type to strengthen the understanding and ongoing improvement of our political systems.

There is good progress being made between New Zealand and the various conference member countries in terms of bi-lateral trade agreements, with of course the ultimate goal being for free and open trade and investment in the region.

This conference could endorse a feasibility study to investigate setting up of a regional framework on mutual recognition of qualifications and product safety standards etc.