A note from our Director Matariki is almost upon us, with the Matariki star cluster reappearing in the dawn sky around 25–28 June. This signals the start of the Māori New Year, where many communities celebrate with kites, kai (food), and fireworks. Many southern hemisphere peoples also celebrate the winter solstice with rituals, such as We Xipantu for Mapuche communities in
Chile and Inti Raymi for Andean communities in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. In Brazil, the entire month of June is dedicated to the Festa Junina festivities, and many Catholics in the region also celebrate the Noche de San Juan. The Latin America CAPE is celebrating many good things ahead, including exciting events next week in conjunction with the Building the Southern Link Conference on June 25. Check out our three events below, which include several of our partner organisations. This update also highlights the Latin America CAPE's work around the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, and the great work of one of our Globalistas, Mona-Lisa Wareka. We have a lot to look forward to in the second half of the year! Matthew O'Meagher, Latin America CAPE Director
Looking Our Way: Argentina’s Views on New Zealand, China and the Asia-Pacific
24 June, WellingtonTogether with the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA), we invite you to a lunchtime seminar with three distinguished speakers from the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI). Retired Ambassador Eduardo A. Sadous, Jorge Malena, and Patricio Giusto will discuss how Argentina views the Asia-Pacific region, China’s influence on their country and this region, and bilateral relations between
Argentina and New Zealand. Click the button below to register for this lunchtime seminar by Thursday, 20 June.
Chile's APEC Year: New Opportunities for Businesses
27 June, AucklandIn two years’ time New Zealand will be hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. This year Chile is hosting the meeting of APEC leaders and their annual dialogue with the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). In this seminar the Executive Director of ABAC 2019 Loreto Leyton will give a private sector view of ABAC’s goals for Chile’s APEC Year, and how these goals can create new opportunities for exporters. Register below by 5pm, Tuesday, 25 June to join all three CAPEs and the Latin America New Zealand Business Council at this breakfast event.
APEC, ABAC and Exporters: New Opportunities for Businesses
28 June, Wellington Following on from our Auckland event, we invite you to join the Latin America CAPE, NZIIA and Chapman Tripp for a lunchtime seminar in Wellington with Executive Director of ABAC 2019, Loreto Leyton. This event will be on the same themes as Loreto's Chile's APEC Year event in Auckland but will also be of interest to policymakers. Please RSVP to latamcape@vuw.ac.nz by 5pm, Wednesday, 26 June.
Reminder: Building the Southern Link Conference
25 June, AucklandThere is an opportunity to make New Zealand a major and natural connection point between China and South America – it’s called the Southern Link. China’s Belt and Road Initiative provides a framework to make it a reality. This international conference to be held at the Aotea Centre in Auckland on 25 June is the opportunity to build a value proposition for the concept and to put together a coalition to take it forward. The conference is co-hosted by the New Zealand China Council, the Latin America New Zealand Business Council (LANZBC), Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI), Fudan University and the Fundación Chilena del Pacífico (FCP). Please click the button below
to register for this event and visit us at our booth.
2019 International Year of Indigenous LanguagesTōku reo, tōku ohooho
(My language is my awakening)
Nō reira e hoa mā, mā te kōrero i te reo e ora ai.
(It is by using language that it will live) For the Latin America CAPE, part of our core mission is to promote the importance of language and culture learning in order to build New Zealanders' global capabilities. This includes promoting a number of languages across our regions - from Spanish and Portuguese to te reo Māori and Mapudungün from southern Chile and Argentina. Click below to read about some of our language-related initiatives.
Q&A with Mona-Lisa WarekaThe Latin America CAPE team has encountered some incredible people through our projects, and we love sharing their stories with our readers. This month, we chatted with Mona-Lisa Wareka. Mona travelled to Chile with the Te Hononga-ā-Kiwa Strengthening Māori Business Capabilities programme in 2018. She was recently selected as Tuakana (Mentor) for this year's THK programme, a role which Mona said she's really looking forward to.
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