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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Dear Member
Dear Member
This month’s newsletter originates from the base of Mount Ruapehu. Although conditions are much colder and slower than what we are used to in Thailand, the upside is that good snow conditions for skiing are on the way. The wintry weather has incubated a lot of swine flu in NZ and even though most people don’t seem worried about it personally, it is being promoted as one of the reasons why tourist numbers are down for this time of the year.
At last month’s CK event we listened to a memorable farewell speech from our departing ambassador, Brook Barrington. As expected Brook did not “mince his words” in providing an overview into some of the reasons why current political and social issues exist in Thailand and why some will remain for some time to come. It was a fun evening and we wish Brook and Gill our very best wishes on their return to Wellington.
Our new ambassador, Mr Bede Corry, will be taking up his position in Thailand in August. We look forward to welcoming Mr Corry to the NZ Chamber and to the continuation of the excellent working relationship with the Embassy and its staff that we have been part of over recent years.
At our recent committee meeting, the NZ Chamber agreed to sign the MOU with KEA New Zealand. We have in previous correspondence outlined discussions we were having with Kea whereby the Chamber would become the “Kea Chapter” in Thailand. Kea focuses on NZ’s global individuals in the international community and the MOU will enable Chamber members to obtain a much broader global network of business and social contacts. We propose to jointly host an NZTCC / Kea presentation event on the benefits and activities of Kea’s global organization in the near future.
Last month we received an excellent response from members to the Corporate Knight survey that we posted. It confirmed that a large majority of our members appreciate we continue to host our networking functions at such an accessible and informal location as the Sheraton and this information will be taken into account in our future planning for CK events. The issue we currently face is that with such low occupancy rates for the hotel industry generally we are now paying more for the hosting of our CK functions and unfortunately this will mean an increase in entry fees for attendees. The extent of the increases has yet to be finalised but as usual we are mindful of maintaining “value for money” for our members. The new fees will be advised well before our August function.
Although this can be a quiet month with many expat families away, we trust that those of you who are still in Bangkok can come along to this month’s networking function at the Sheraton Grande. We are grateful to IRS for hosting the evening and we look forward to seeing you there.
Good luck to the All Blacks in South Africa
Kind regards
Cris Dunning
President
July CHAMBER NETWORKING EVENTS
CORPORATE KNIGHT NETWORKING EVENT
Thursday, 30th July 2009 @ 6.30pm
@ The Sheraton Grande
Kindly sponsored by
IRS specialises in offering practical support and solutions to businesses when their premises, contents or equipment are damaged due to fire, flood or other disasters.
IRS has been built on a track record of successful disaster recovery projects. By working with teams of highly skilled personnel IRS can very quickly and effectively customize a solution in response to a crisis and return a business to full operational capacity.
IRS provides solutions for:
- Specialist Technical Equipment Decontamination
- Dry Ice Cleaning
- Structures & Contents Decontamination
- Disaster Recovery Technical Consultancy
- Re-commissioning and testing
On call 24 / 7, IRS can put a team of technical personnel on the ground within 48 hours anywhere in the Asia Pacific region.
The IRS team is made up of experts, some with over 15 years experience decontaminating technical equipment structures and contents. IRS has extensive industry backgrounds encompassing many types of equipment.
IRS has offices located in Sydney, Brisbane, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia with representation in China.
Representatives: Mr. Don Sutherland and Mr. Chris Haydock
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
16th ANNUAL NEW ZEALAND EDUCATION FAIR
The 16th annual New Zealand Education Fairs were held in Thailand in mid June, these are flagship events for Education New Zealand and the Export Education industry. The fairs were attended by 44 New Zealand educational representatives who traveled to Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Phuket.
The highlight of the event was to have the New Zealand Minister of Education, Hon. Anne Tolley, open the fair. In addition, Air New Zealand was a key sponsor, New Zealand products were displayed, and a New Zealand cooking demonstration was held, giving a real ‘NZ Inc’ feel to the events. The education promotions attracted almost 2,500 Thai visitors who were interested in learning more about New Zealand opportunities.
KIWI CORNER
Some recent Kiwi Snippets and Kiwis in the news:
Hundreds Gather to Watch Orca Dine in Auckland
About 200 onlookers gathered on Auckland's Tamaki Drive to watch a pod of orca hunting close to the shore. Five or six killer whales had been chasing stingrays within five to ten metres of the shore - moving from Okahu Bay, past Kohimarama and towards St Heliers. Onlookers were watching what appeared to be two adult and three or four juvenile orca throwing stingrays into the air and eating them.
Scary washing machine sells for $5160
A noisy 25-year-old washing machine with a reserve of $1 has sold for more than $5000 on the auction website TradeMe. Appliance Connexion confirmed the 100% chain of stores bought the scary washing machine for $5160 and might take it on a national tour. The mid-1980s Kelvinator, which still washes clothes well, was described by its seller Mike Whittaker as once shaking so violently that he saw a porthole to another dimension open above it. Dinosaurs peered back from the other dimension, he said. The TradeMe page received more than 800,000 views and attracted a lot of media interest.
Graeme Hart Leaps Up Billionaire Rankings
Former tow truck driver-turned-business heavyweight Graeme Hart is now ranked as the wealthiest man in Australasia. The annual Forbes business magazine billionaire rankings put Mr Hart's wealth at US$4.5 billion ($8.8 billion), outstripping Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch (US$4 billion), shopping centre owner Frank Lowy (US$2.7 billion) and media heir James Packer (US$2.5 billion).
World Class NZ Awards
With world acclaim for his career in special effects, multi-Oscar winner Richard Taylor was celebrated on his home stage – as the Supreme Winner in the 2009 World Class New Zealand Awards.
Richard Taylor’s talent spans a range of media from puppetry to animation. He has won five Oscars® in his career, working on movies such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy; King Kong; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; and Heavenly Creatures.
Young NZ Writer Scoops British Book Award
New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton has won a British literary award worth GBP8000 (NZ$20,800) with her first book, The Rehearsal. The book, described as a "story of a high-school sex scandal and its myriad consequences", picked up the Betty Trask Award for first time novelists under the age of 35.
The Rehearsal has also been nominated in the fiction and best first book of fiction categories of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards to be announced on July 27 in Auckland.
NATO Medal for Army Officer
An army officer has become the first New Zealander to be awarded a NATO Meritorious Service Medal.
Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Ramsden, of Petone, has been awarded the medal for his superior leadership "in an often tumultuous environment" during a six-month deployment with the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan.
TEACHING THAIS (and other Asians) THE KIWI WAY
The Dominion Post
Foreign students are New Zealand's fifth-biggest export earner, but schools and universities know that the only way to gain a share of the market is to go out and grab it.
It's a hot dry day at a northern Thailand university where a contingent of neatly dressed Kiwis set up their booths promoting the best of the New Zealand lifestyle.
The students and education agents who will come here are looking for a world-class education in English at the best possible price. David Gillon, of Christchurch's Middleton Grange School, is in Thailand for his third successive year. Foreign education has become a significant income source for Middleton, which has a dedicated college for its 130 international students. The cheaper kiwi dollar is generating fresh interest.
Last year New Zealand received about 88,000 foreign students. While Australia now has nearly five times that number, New Zealand leads the world for foreign students per capita, and retains a large chunk of the secondary school-age market because parents see it as safe with good-quality education.
For every dollar those students spend on tuition, it's estimated they and their families spend another $1.70 in the wider community.
LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELDS
Thanks to the power of the Internet, Christchurch software development company Polar Bear Farm has leapfrogged the boundaries of space and time to see some of their iPhone applications out-sell those produced by the world’s biggest companies.
The company, founded in 2007, specialises in native applications for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Initial work was on designing applications that catered to features that Apple had left out of the iPhone. For example, Search, their first application allows people to search their contacts based on first name, last name, organisation, job title, department, notes, phone number, or email address. The phone already has a search function but this adds more ease and sophistication. The company has since progressed, branching out into more creative applications including utilities and games.
Polar Bear Farm’s marketing has been mainly through review and technology sites in the Apple online community, by targeting influential sites with their products. As such, Guy Horrocks, 24, co-founder, believes the company has been a “full-blown exercise in geography not mattering at all.”
“I mean it does to a degree, we’ve been to Silicon Valley several times to meet people and make contacts, but it shows you can run a profitable company from New Zealand even if you’re not selling to any New Zealanders. We’re selling our applications in 62 countries where there are 45-50 million people who have an iPhone or an iPod Touch.
NEW MEMBERS
We would like to welcome the following new member to the Chamber:
Elastomer Products (Thailand) Ltd
Chamber Representative: Wayne John Meaclem
Business Type: Manufacturing
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NEW ZEALAND THAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 
