Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards

I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language. Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)

I then specifically greet you: Rt Hon John Key, Prime Minister; Hon Phil Goff, Leader of the Opposition and many other members of Parliament, notably Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Dr Rajen Prasad; Your Worship Len Brown, newly elected Mayor of Auckland; Admiral (Retired) Sureesh Mehta, High Commissioner for India to New Zealand; Ravin Lal and Venkat Raman, Publisher and Editor respectively of Indian Newslink; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.  In the context of this gathering I add the greetings: Namaste, Namashkar, Sat Sri Akal, Kam Cho and Salaam Walaikum.

Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and I to the third Indian Newslink Indian Business Awards celebration here in Auckland.  I have been asked to formally launch the new Indian Newslink website, and just before I do I would like to speak of the relationship between India and New Zealand and its future prospects.

Some time ago, the acclaimed French Scholar of Indian Studies, Sylvia Levi, said: "[India] has left indelible imprints on one fourth of the human race in the course of a long succession of centuries. She has the right to reclaim ...her place amongst the great nations summarising and symbolising the spirit of humanity."

Levi’s use of the word “reclaim” is telling because with the exception of the period of what can be called Western colonialisation, India has long been a significant player in Asian and global affairs.  Likewise, while some commentators have described India as an “emerging economy,” I suspect it may be better to describe it as “resurgent”.

However one describes India’s growth in the last 20 years, it is quite clear that a fundamental change has occurred in the world’s economic and political axes with India being one of the causes of the change.

This kind of point was well made in a speech by New Zealand’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, Terence O’Brien, to a seminar last year organised by New Zealand Institute of International Affairs.  Commenting on the influence of the so-called “BRIC nations”, the quartet of Brazil, Russia, India and China, Terence O’Brien, who is now a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, made an observation in the following words:

“The pendulum of international affairs is swinging.  One essential conclusion can be drawn from the dual spectacle of BRIC emergence as a global influence, and of East Asia’s advance as a regional, and global force: To be modern and successful in the 21st Century will no longer necessarily equate with being ‘Western’”.

Those comments were amply illustrated earlier this month by the visit of the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to India.  In a significant address to a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, he supported India’s call to be a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations.

This fundamental geo-political and geo-economic shift has been reinforced by the ongoing ramifications of the global financial crisis, which have seen many Western economies falter while Asian economies such as India and China have continued to advance, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. The change in the centre of gravity of the world economy is of strategic importance to New Zealand.  As a nation that relies on exports and trade for its livelihood, New Zealand cannot afford to ignore India or the rest of Asia.

I have had the privilege to have seen at first-hand evidence of India’s remarkable resurgence on a number of occasions.  Susan and I visited India on our OE in the early 1970s, not long after we were married.  India’s growth rate at that time was low compared to what were called the “East Asian Tigers”.

Visits to India in 2003 as a delegate to a Pravasi Bharatiya Conference, in 2004 as a part of a Prime Ministerial delegation, and again in 2008 when we undertook the first State Visit by a New Zealand Governor-General to India, revealed a nation subject to remarkable change.
 
That growth followed a series of economic changes instituted in 1991 by then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao and his government’s Finance Minister and now Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.  Investment bankers Goldman Sachs, which coined the term “BRIC” referring to Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2001, estimates that by 2020, India’s economy will be bigger than that of Spain, Canada or Italy.

In advancing its relationship with India, I believe New Zealand to be well placed.  New Zealand and India, as members of the Commonwealth and with a host of legal, parliamentary and sporting connections, have long had a warm even if slightly distant relationship.

Those links included the longstanding association established by Sir Edmund Hillary, as an adventurer, a strident promoter of charitable causes and as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India.  It was therefore with much pleasure that I was in position to host a ceremony at Government House in Auckland in May 2008, where the then Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, Hon Kamal Nath presented the Padma Vibhushan to Sir Edmund’s widow, Lady June Hillary.

When I attended a State Banquet at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in September 2008, hosted by the President of India, Srimati Pratibha Patil, I noted that India's "Look East" policy reached as far as New Zealand.  In particular, this notion had been put in a striking fashion by leading Indian journalist, Dr Sanjaya Baru who described India and New Zealand at a 2003 conference in Wellington, as "the book ends of Asia".

In the years since Dr Baru’s comment and in particular during the last two years, the bookends can be said to be moving closer together.  There have been significant increases in trade, tourism and educational links which are growing.  Additionally, new science and military links have been established.  For example, while India ranked 27th in terms of New Zealand’s export markets a few years ago; it is now 13th and negotiations are under way for a possible free trade agreement.

Likewise, with regard to the people-to-people links, whereas five or six years ago, there were 400 Indian students studying in New Zealand; there are now about 9,000.  Also of significance, in February this year, I had the pleasure of welcoming Rahul Gandhi MP to New Zealand as the first Sir Edmund Hillary Fellow making a study and familiarisation visit here.

The depth of the relationship, notwithstanding the occasional bump in the road, was made during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi where I had the privilege of representing the government in support of the New Zealand team.

At the opening every team received a cheer but I can bring to mind a special cheer for our country because of the wearing by each team member over their black blazers, a white angavastram scarf.  On this scarf were three things: the altitude of Mt Everest 29028; a quotation of Sir Edmund Hillary saying, “It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves”; and a comment by Tenzing Norgay, “Be great, make others great.”  This gesture of linkage between New Zealand and India and Nepal was covered in the media and was known about and was a gesture greatly appreciated.

However, I believe a final and most important factor in the developing relationship between our two countries will be the influence of the Indian Diaspora.  As this audience so amply testifies, New Zealanders of Indian origin in disciplines as diverse as sporting and cultural endeavours to business, politics, academia and central and local government have given much to this country.

For just one example, in the last month in the capital there occurred the Wellington Indian Sports Club marking its 75th Jubilee of existence and exhibiting a strong future with several hundred players, particularly young ones, in a number of sports. 

More recently, I note the work of outlets such as Indian Newslink and other media organisations to provide a distinctly New Zealand-Indian perspective on local, national and international news and current affairs.  In particular, I commend Indian Newslink for initiating these business awards which reward business success and motivate New Zealanders of Indian origin to foster innovation.

The work of the Indian Diaspora not only benefits New Zealand, but also New Zealand’s relationship with India by providing a ready constituency for enhanced trade, tourism, scientific and educational links. 

In conclusion, the prospects for the relationship between India and New Zealand are particularly favourable.  I mentioned earlier a reference to New Zealand and India being the bookends of Asia.  To make another the bibliographical reference, I could not help but notice that on the cover of the Encyclopaedia of the Indian Diaspora, edited by Professor Brij Lal, and published in 2007, is a picture from the opening of New Zealand’s first Indian community centre, the Nehru Hall, in Pukekohe in 1953.  Immediately above the entrance to the hall, where members of the New Zealand Indian Central Association are proudly standing, are graphic representations of the flags of New Zealand and India.  Most appropriately, the two masts on which the flags fly are crossed and tied together at the base.  Fifty-seven years later, it is a symbol that augurs well for the future relationship between the two countries.

And thus on what I hope is a suitable note of optimism I will close in New Zealand’s first language Māori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.  No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.