INZBC commits it’s support to the new Prime Minister

Media Release

14.12.2016

INZBC commits it’s support to the new Prime Minister, Bill English and the NZ High Commissioner designate to India, Joanna Kempkers.

INZBC held a welcome meeting to felicitate the new High Commissioner Designate of New Zealand to India, Ms. Joanna Kempkers. Joana spoke to the INZBC members and other members of the industry, at a meeting at the Delloite center, on Tuesday, 13th December.

Joanna said, “I am looking forward to working with the business community and the society at large from both countries, to build stranger ties between India & New Zealand. A lot of good work has been done on the ground and we shall endeavor to improve upon that.”

Joanna Kempers comes from a long background in diplomacy and international affairs. She was last posted as Divisional Manager/Chief of Protocol at Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She has also been the High Commissioner for Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Joanna emphasised the need to have a two way dialogue for a successful relationship. She said, "While the FTA would undoubtedly be a catalyst for growth in the bilateral trade and economic relationship there is more that could and should be done to advance our economic ties. NZ trades successfully with a number of countries without an FTA, and. We can with India too."

“We appreciate the work done by agencies like INZBC, who act as a bridge between the government and the industry people. We look forward to working with them in the future”.

INZBC board member, Sameer Handa also felicitated the new High Commissioner and presented her with a brochure of INZBC, with a summary of all events done in the past one year.

Sir Ken Stevens, Executive Chairman, Glidepath Group, was a special attendee at the event. He made a brief presentation on his experiences of working with the Indian market. He said, he is keen to work with Ms. Kempkers, on the ground in India, where they are in expansion mode.

Another special presentation was made by Mr. Tony Martin, Regional Director - India, Middle East and Africa, NZTE. Tony said that the NZTE team is working hard in India and here in Auckland, to help support the Kiwi businesses to transition or grow in India. He welcomes and invited more businesses to start work with India and grow their business there. He welcomed Joanna in her new role and reiterated that it would be a great support to have her on the ground.”

Mr. Martin added that, “INZBC is doing a good job on the ground, to get a sense of what the industry requires to grow. NZTE has a strong relations with INZBC and we would like to see it grow”.

The head of Government Relations, INZBC, Wenceslaus Anthony, felicitated the new High Commissioner designate and reiterated that INZBC is committed to developing great ties between India & NZ, as it has been doing so for the past few decades.

He said, “Joanna comes with a great background in diplomacy and will be very suited to understand the Indian culture and values, which are rooted in tradition and also protocols”.

Mr. Anthony gave an overview of the immense work done by INZBC in 2016 alone, with more than 12 events done so far. Most crucial were the Prime Minister’s visit to India, President of India visit to NZ, The agri-tech summit, to name a few. INZBC also had hosted an event with Education NZ’s Charles Finny, which brought in focus on ‘high-quality’ students, to maintain high standards across New Zealand’s international education industry. India’s Lead Negotiator of FTA, Arvind Mehta had also addressed and talked with business leaders with INZBC.

He also welcomes the new Prime Minister, Bill English, at the helm of affairs. Mr. Anthony said, “John Key has been a great champion of the India-NZ relations, with his two trips to India. Mr Key had supported the all the initiatives of the council, with him attending all the three summits done so far. We are sure Mr. Bill English will take on the baton from here and help the relations grow to even higher levels. INZBC also welcomes the new Deputy PM, Paula Bennet, who is a great leader in the community.”

He said, “INZBC is very fortunate to have known them personally and have interacted with them at some point of time. We welcome Mr. Bill English as the PM and as recent as last month he had sent his best wishes for the Debrief of the PM mission. He has attended our events previously and is aware of the work being done by INZBC.”

INZBC treasurer, Bhav Dhillon said, “with the change of representatives in the government at the center and in India, these are exciting times to have new impetus to the relationships. INZBC is the link that continues to exchange the cross-border relationships. We hope to work closely with the Prime Minister and the High Commissioners office, on the various polices and initiatives of the government, for bilateral trade”.

Jason Stachurski, Partner, Deloitte, hosted the event. Jason said that Deloitte works with the community and business leaders in supporting such events, that add value to the community and their clients.

The event was attended with a good number of representatives from various industries like: travel, finance, banking, consultancy, forestry, wine, education, services, automobile and media. This was last of a series of 12 events organized by INZBC in this year alone, as they close for the Christmas break.

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About INZBC: The India New Zealand Business Council [INZBC] is the premier trade organisation in New Zealand working for over 25 years to build trade relations between India & New Zealand. INZBC is run by industry leaders of New Zealand, who have years of experience in this sphere, thereby becoming the key stake-holders for International Trade Development of India & NZ.

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