New Zealand Institute of International Affairs

Lecture

Can Multilateralism Recover? 3rd Foreign Policy Lecture, July 2004 given by Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary-General and former Foreign Minister of Guyana.

Excerpt:

Before I begin there is a very special mission I hope you will allow me to fulfil. Fourteen years ago, on 27 April 1990, as I took leave of New Zealand at the end of my tenure as Commonwealth Secretary-General, one of the most touching moments of those years occurred in Christchurch. In an act of spontaneous generosity at the closing dinner of the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting. Sir Tipene O’Regan presented me with his personal taonga as a token of our lasting fraternity. I have kept this proudly ever since and have worn it from time to time on appropriate occasions. Today, I want to take this opportunity of my return to New Zealand to discharge personally what would otherwise fall to my executors to perform, namely, to return that token of familial co-mingling to the custody of Tipene O’Regan on behalf of his Ngai Tahu tribe. I have kept it all these years with great pride and I thank him from a full heart for having allowed me to do so. As it continues with his tribe, I shall believe that its considerable mana will be watching over my family as well. [end excerpt]

Image: Sir Shridath Ramphal and Sir Tipene O’Regan.

The NZIIA gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs& Trade, and KPMG with the arrangements for the visit of Sir Shridath Ramphal.

All speeches are published in the NZIR.