NZ minister takes education push into Southeast Asia

Source:Xinhua Published: 2012-6-29 13:59:54

A senior New Zealand minister will push New Zealand's education sector at meetings with Asian officials in Southeast Asia next month.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce would travel on Sunday to Indonesia and Singapore to highlight New Zealand as a destination for international education and science and research.

Joyce's visit would include attending the first formal meeting of the East Asia Summit Education Ministers in Yogyakarta on July 5.

"Countries in East Asia represent 55 percent of the world's population and more than half of global GDP. These countries are pouring huge resources into education and tapping into this market is a massive opportunity for New Zealand," Joyce said in a statement.

In Yogyakarta, Joyce would hold bilateral meetings with Indonesian Minister of Education Mohammad Nuh, Chinese Vice- Minister of Education Hao Ping, and Australian Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research Chris Evans.

In Singapore, Joyce would profile New Zealand's science, education and trade sectors, and hold meetings with Deputy Prime Ministers Teo Chee Hean, also chairman of the National Research Foundation, and Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

"New Zealand has a strong reputation for innovation and for delivering high quality education. This trip provides the opportunity to highlight our strengths to these growing economies and help double the economic contribution of international education to New Zealand to 5 billion NZ dollars (3.97 billion US dollars) by 2025," Joyce said.

Posted in: Asia-Pacific

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