2013-02-12 21:18:56 -
(LONDON – 12 February 2013) -- The Acting New Zealand High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr. Rob Taylor, delivered a sweeping overview of the United States - New Zealand strategic partnership yesterday.
Mr. Taylor’s talk was the first event in the inaugural Pacific ambassador series presented by the Pacific Islands Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). It was entitled: "New Zealand - United States: An Asia-Pacific Partnership."
According to the society’s president, Mr. Eddie Walsh, “The entire SOAS community owes a great debt of gratitude to the New Zealand High Commission for its willingness to engage on this important topic. Mr. Taylor provided our students and faculty with a tour de force review of the
last 100 years of United States - New Zealand relations. Such background is something that one would not typically find in the classroom and provides the context necessary to understand the changing strategic landscape of the Asia-Pacific in the 21st Century."
Over the next three months, the 2013 Ambassador Speaking Series will host seven more ambassadors and high commissioners from the Pacific region and neighboring powers. All will speak on the topic of international security and the Pacific Islands.
The next event in the series will be a talk by the High Commissioner of the Republic of Fiji to the United Kingdom, H.E. Mr. Solo Mara, on Tuesday, March 5, at 7:15pm. The event will be held in room G3 in the SOAS Main Building.
All events in the series are free and open to the public-- although priority will be given to students and faculty of U.K. universities.
About the Pacific Islands Society at SOAS: The Pacific Islands Society is a registered society of the SOAS Student Union. The society aims to increase student and faculty awareness of the importance of Pacific affairs within the SOAS community and the broader U.K. higher education system.
For more information on the 2013 Ambassador Speaking Series:
Visit our website: www.pacificislandssociety.org
Like us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/PacificIslandsSociety
Follow us on Twitter:
twitter.com/PacificSociety
Note: This press release is a correction to an earlier version that was mistakenly published in draft form.
