KARACHI: “March 15 was New Zealand’s darkest day. Those who died at Christchurch that day had come to New Zealand for a peaceful life and to be useful to our country. I am from Christchurch and was most affected by the loss,” said New Zealand High Commissioner to Pakistan Hamish MacMaster during his talk on ‘Pakistan and New Zealand: the Ties That Bind’ on Wednesday.

The event was organised by the English Speaking Union of Pakistan (ESUP) at a local hotel.

Remembering the horrific terrorist attack, the high commissioner said that New Zealand is a multicultural country and the act of terrorism was against their core values. He also said that where it came to peace and security both New Zealand and Pakistan supported each other. “We have both experienced terrorism and feel the same about it,” he said.

“Our government is determined that New Zealand remains a safe and open society. We want to work on capacity building and resilient communities that resist the ideology of terrorism. There have been many policy changes in this regard such as banning of certain firearms and monitoring the internet for extremist content headed by our prime minister. We have committed ourselves to peace and the legacy of Christchurch now binds Pakistan and New Zealand,” he said.

“Pakistan and New Zealand also enjoy strong links due to two-way trade and our love of cricket. Our Commonwealth ties are of a long duration where we promote mutual respect, transparency and education. With both countries being a part of the Commonwealth, New Zealand has a capacity to support a number of educational opportunities including scholarships for some 60 years now. At present there are some 400 students from Pakistan studying in New Zealand, many of whom are doing their PhD there. We want the number of these students to grow further. We value the insights and diversity they bring to New Zealand,” he added.

NZ envoy says about 8,000 Pakistani immigrants contributing to New Zealand in positive ways

He said that the two countries are also linked due to agriculture. “Agriculture also binds us as both New Zealand and Pakistan are significant agricultural economies,” he said, adding that they saw potential in partnership in dairy technologies.

“Pakistan can maximise its dairy output through Agritech New Zealand. We also see many opportunities here,” he pointed out.

Another area he mentioned was trade. “Opportunities for trade are also too strong to ignore,” he said.

He added that there were about 8,000 New Zealanders of Pakistani descent contributing to New Zealand in positive ways. “Thus the people-to-people links between folks of both countries have been growing over decades,” he said while also commending Moin M. Fudda, the honorary Counsel General of New Zealand for Pakistan, for his contribution to growing relations between both countries.

Earlier, Aziz Memon, ESUP’s president, introduced the guest and said that it was wonderful to host such a distinguished and seasoned foreign serviceman who has previously also been stationed in Riyadh, Ankara, Yemen and Tehran before his transfer to Islamabad, and who has visited Karachi several times before also.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019