The NZIIA national conference 2025 aspires to be the premier public event for international affairs in Aotearoa New Zealand. It provides a platform for experts from Government, academia, business, and NGOs both from New Zealand and overseas. The audience comprises people working in and researching international affairs, broadly defined. It includes senior executives, ministers and officials, mid-career and young professionals, and tertiary students.

The conference theme focuses on a global shift in which economic relationships are reassessed considering increased geopolitical competition in a more security-conscious, fragmented and less stable world. This was one of the three key strategic shifts in international affairs identified by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in its 2023 Strategic Assessment, and it is a key driver for New Zealand foreign and trade policy formulation.

Through keynote addresses and a series of discussion panels, the conference will address the above overarching theme and a series of sub-themes, including the effects of a shift from economics to security on:

• Direction of New Zealand foreign policy
• Reshaping the international system
• International trade and investment
• Sustainability and climate change
• Defence and national security
• Engaging with the Pacific region
• Applying matauranga Māori to foreign and trade policies
• New Zealand’s perceptions of Asia
• Rapid technological change and its effects on international relations
• New Zealand in World Affairs – trends over the past two decades and solutions for the future.

The conference will build upon the Institute’s reputation for fostering expert discussion and understanding of international affairs, especially as they relate to New Zealand. It aims to meet the high professional standards of previous NZIIA conferences, which have contributed significantly to public discourse on international affairs through keynote addresses from senior New Zealand and international ministers, officials, business leaders, academics, and more.

New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) - Whare Tawahi-a-mahi i Aotearoa, is an independent, non-governmental organisation that fosters expert discussion and understanding of international issues and emerging trends, particularly as they relate to Aotearoa New Zealand.

NZIIA fosters wider understanding of international issues, trading partnerships and relationships with other countries. It does this by creating a programme of events and initiatives that enable audiences to hear a range of speakers with various viewpoints. It hosts public addresses by visiting experts and dignitaries, roundtable events including Track II dialogues, and generates an annual conference. Branches around the country host a lively programme of events and the National Office has been hosting a range of events in both Wellington for some years and in Auckland over the last year.

NZIIA’s main communications platforms are the website, social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and the NZ International Review. This publication has been in existence for 44 years. It is the only national magazine exclusively devoted to international issues as they affect New Zealand. It is available for all members as part of their subscription and to students at universities in New Zealand. 

www.nziia.org.nz