Declaration
Businesses that are signatories of the declaration understand that building knowledge of Asia, its cultures, languages and peoples is a priority task for our education system.
Business signatories commit themselves to working with school communities to help deliver greater Asia Awareness to young New Zealanders.
The Declaration
The 21st Century is, and will be, the century of Asia. New Zealand as a part of the wider Asian region will see its future shaped by what happens in Asia.
Understanding what is happening in Asia is the key to our future. Building our knowledge of Asia, its cultures, its languages and its peoples, is a priority task for our education system, so that New Zealanders can become more informed about the region and better equipped to deal with it.
We, the signatories of this declaration, have therefore formed the Business Education Partnership for New Zealand’s Future with Asia to call for greater attention to be given to making New Zealanders, in our schools and in our educational institutions, in our boardrooms and in our workplaces, more informed about Asia.
We commit ourselves to working with our communities to see that this partnership can help deliver greater Asia Awareness to fellow New Zealanders. We want to see greater attention given to learning about Asia in our schools.
We want to support this initiative by developing programmes in our own organisations which support greater Asia Awareness.
We want to increase the opportunities for New Zealanders to learn more about Asia and to learn the major languages of Asia.
We represent major business and employee organisations, which together cover the majority of the New Zealand economy. We represent as well individual companies and institutions; we represent business councils which promote trade and economic growth with our major trading partners in Asia.
Together, we can make this partnership a real force in giving New Zealanders the chance to become Asia Aware.
Want to become a signatory of the Business Education Partnership Declaration?
If you are a school, business or employee association interested in signing up to the declaration, please contact Fiona Haiko.