Delegates from New Zealand and the U.S. To Meet

Conference delegates will have their eyes firmly on the future, says U.S. Ambassador

The next generation of leaders from New Zealand and the United States will gather in Christchurch between 20-22 February to work on mapping out the future direction of the relationship between their two countries. The Future Partners Forum, involving 22 university students from both countries, will run alongside the fourth U.S.-N.Z. Partnership Forum -- a high level gathering of government, business, academic, and community representatives who will discuss how the relationship can be expanded and broadened to better meet today’s shared global challenges.

“We’re going to ask the students to do some crystal ball-gazing,” says U.S. Ambassador David Huebner. “While delegates at the main Forum will be taking stock of where the two countries are at now in areas such as politics, business, science, and education, we will be asking our Future Leaders to ponder what those areas of engagement should, and hopefully will, look like in 20 years’ time.”

The Future Partners will report their ideas back to the final session of the main Forum comprised of more than a hundred big-hitters from political and business elites in both countries, including Ministers, Cabinet Secretaries, Congressmen, Members of Parliament, and CEOs. “This is a unique opportunity for the students and young professionals to express their views directly to their countries’ current leaders,” says Ambassador Huebner.

The Partnership Forum has four high-profile co-chairs: former New Zealand Prime Minister and former Ambassador to the United States Rt. Hon James Bolger; former U.S. Senator and former Governor of Indiana Evan Bayh; former Deputy Prime Minister Hon Dr Michael Cullen; and former U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Susan Schwab.

The Future Partners Forum complements the extensive array of other youth engagement and empowerment programs organized by the U.S. Embassy, such as the American Ambassador Advisors groups established by the Ambassador at universities around New Zealand to solicit opinions, feedback, suggestions, and ideas for use in his work. The Ambassador convened his various Advisors groups in Wellington last October for the first annual Connecting Young Leaders conference. The Embassy is happy to be partnering this year with Fulbright New Zealand and the N.Z.- U.S. Council on the inaugural Future Partners Forum.

ENDS

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