26 May 2022

Te Ara Tipu, the CAPEs national tertiary student programme, held its first cross-CAPE session last week titled Aotearoa New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific – a panel discussion with Q&A, and an opportunity for students to connect with speakers after the discussion via breakout rooms.

The session was moderated by Angela Davis, Director of Strategy at the CAPEs. The panelists were Khoa Nguyen, Director of Viet River Holdings Ltd (representing Southeast Asia CAPE); Charlie Gao, Director of North Asia CAPE; Dr Matthew O’Meagher, Director of Latin America CAPE; and Natalie Lulia, CAPE’s Director Māori.

The group had a lively discussion that focused mainly around business and culture within the three CAPE regions, and panelists shared their wealth of experience and learnings gained during many years working across Aotearoa and the Asia-Pacific. Students asked panelists about what Māori values are valuable when engaging with Asia-Pacific markets and whether advances in technology have changed the ways we do business with the region. We also talked about common misconceptions we make, how to deal with them and how to better communicate the benefits of the three regions more effectively. The main takeaway of the session was looking at working with the Asia-Pacific using a reciprocal approach of giving and taking, and building genuine connections in the spirit of whaunaungatanga.

Te Ara Tipu students will reconvene in Wellington early July to attend their second event series which will include a visit to the Diplosphere conference and ministry visits (including MFAT) as well as a career talk.