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On 27 August, Natasha Hamilton-Hart,
Director of the New Zealand Asia Institute
(NZAI), opened the 2016 Asia Savvy conference
by extending a warm welcome to the guest
speakers and the participants, particularly the
visiting students from the Auckland University
of Technology, Massey University, Lincoln
University and The University of Waikato. She
complimented the theme choice, “Asia: Thinking
Big and Small”, and encouraged the participants
to share their “big and small stories” about
the dynamic and diverse Asia region. She also
thankfully acknowledged the hard work of the
Organising Committee and Dinah Towle fromNZAI,
and commended their success in attracting a
record number of student registrations, essay
submissions and sponsors.
Speaking on behalf of the Organising
Committee, Annie Ren, a third year student
from the Department of Commerce and
Property in Auckland’s Business School,
expressed her team’s deep appreciation for
NZAI’s support for the conference, which made
the valuable opportunity possible for them to
learn to put together a significant event. She
appealed to the participants to continue the
interactive, attendee-centred, and low-waste
tradition of the student-led conference and
to join the organisers in making it a success.
She also assured those interested in helping
organise the 2017 Asia Savvy that they would
enjoy and cherish the good learning experience.
Rod Oram was then invited to the keynote
podium, where the internally acclaimed
business journalist shared some important
findings and insights from his 2015 research
trips to Beijing, London and Chicago for his
new book, Three Cities: Seeking Hope in the
Anthropocene (Wellington, NZ: Bridget Williams
Books, 2016). Rod stated point blank that it was
not wise for New Zealand to focus primarily on
winning the wallets of the middle class in Asian
countries. For one thing, New Zealand would
never be able to produce the volume to satisfy
the big and diverse markets in the region. For
another, NZ-Asia relationships should not be
limited to merely business interactions and
operations in the first place.
Rod further underscored the fact that the
world, including Asia, had in recent years been
confronted with the grave problems of slow
economic growth, stagnant/falling incomes,
weak labour markets, and deteriorating
ecological life support systems. In the
persistent, near-crisis economic and ecological
Asia: Thinking Big and Small
Asia Savvy summaries