The Institute was visited yesterday by the Indonesian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Antonius Agus Sriyono, along with representatives from the National Resilience Institute of the Republic of Indonesia. It was a pleasure to host our guests who were very interested in learning more about the work of the Institute and about New Zealand society more generally. Wendy gave them broad rundown of the Institute’s work programme, in particular our Project 2058, and the Institute’s philosophy.
Wendy also talked about the Institute’s most recent initiative, the EmpowerNZ workshop, which was of interest to our guests as it addressed questions on both New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements and about how young people can be encouraged to engage in debates about civic and future issues. Other question topics ranged from the 1835 Declaration of Independence of New Zealand to ‘what makes someone a New Zealander?’ Truly challenging questions, but driven by enthusiastic engagement from our guests who were keen to understand as much as possible about our country.
The National Resilience Institute of the Republic of Indonesia is a non-department government institution subordinate and responsible to the President of Indonesia. Among its tasks is to assist the President in strengthening the national level leaders, organising conceptual and strategic study on various national and international problems, and building and developing relationships with various relevant agencies in Indonesia and overseas.
The Institute thoroughly enjoyed hosting the Ambassador and his colleagues from the Indonesian government who graciously gifted us a medallion to mark the occasion. We look forward to any future meetings.
