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Asia New Zealand Foundation

Priority One has established a relationship with Asia New Zealand Foundation – a non-profit organisation dedicated to building New Zealanders’ knowledge and understanding of Asia. Twenty years ago, Japan was the only Asian country ranked among the world’s top economies. Now three of the world’s top four economies are in Asia: China, Japan and India.

Asia New Zealand has a strong focus on young people, who need the knowledge and skills to thrive in a global world increasingly led by Asia. With the New Zealand curriculum calling for a focus on future issues and themes such as globalisation, it is increasingly important that students have cross-curricula and extra-curricula opportunities to learn about Asia.

Priority One partnered with Asia New Zealand to run a number of workshops for local primary and secondary school principals to update them on the importance of Asia to the region and suggest simple ways they can add an Asian dimension into their schools. The workshops coincided with the launch of ’Asia and the Bay of Plenty' - a report specifically designed as a resource for school principals, which assesses the impact and influence Asia has on the Bay of Plenty. Key findings from the report included:

While Australia is our biggest single export market, Asia is New Zealand’s most important export region with $12.5 billion worth of goods sent to Asian countries annually.
The Port of Tauranga is New Zealand’s biggest port exporting goods to Asia, accounting for about $8.1 billion of exports in 2006.
Port of Tauranga’s main exports by dollar value were dairy products, meat and meat products, logs and wood articles, aluminium, machinery, fruit, seafood, and beverages.
Six of Port of Tauranga’s top ten most important export destinations are in Asia. They are China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.
Nearly 800,000 international tourists visited the Rotorua area and about 265,000 visited the Bay of Plenty area. China is the fourth biggest source of tourists, accounting for 9% of travellers. However by 2013, Chinese tourists are expected to nearly double to 17%, making it New Zealand’s third biggest market.
Over 90,000 international students studied at New Zealand schools and tertiary institutions in 2006. Of those, 30,000 were from China, 15,000 were from South Korea and 14,000 from Japan. Many Bay of Plenty schools depend on and host students from Countries in Asia.
Nearly 8,000 people in the Bay of Plenty identified as Asian in the 2006 census. This included people of Indian, Chinese, Filipino, South Korean, Japanese, Sri Lankan, Thai, Bangladeshi, Indonesian, Cambodian and Vietnamese descent.

For further information, contact Greg Simmonds on greg@priorityone.co.nz or visit www.asianz.org.nz