A visit to the Embassy
We were able to schedule a meeting at the embassy of New Zealand for Thursday August 20th and our delegates at THIMUN interviewed Mr. Hayden Montgomery, ambassador since March 2013. They asked him questions related to their topics and discussed New Zealand`s foreign policy.
He told us that the foreign relations of New Zealand are oriented toward developed democratic countries and emerging Pacific economies. The government has been active in promoting free trade, nuclear disarmament and arms control. He was very proud of the fact that his country was ranked the second least corrupt country in the world from a list presented by Transparency.org among 175 countries.
The students asked lots of questions and the ambassador talked about childhood obesity, sustainable agriculture, cyber surveillance, New Zealand’s rather cold relations with the Russian Federation due to this country’s claims over Crimea, etc.
At the end of the interview, the ambassador presented the students with caps, pins, maps, brochures and even a folder of declassified information issued by the Security Council, as New Zealand has been elected as a non permanent member of the Council for this term.
There can be no doubt that this visit proved to be a very enriching experience! We are very grateful that we had the chance to meet Mr. Montgomery.
