The NZIIA Wellington Branch in partnership with the Embassy of Colombia invites you to a keynote from the Ambassador of Colombia HE Isaura Duarte Rodríguez followed by an expert panel discussion including Dr Tanya Jurado from Massey University.

To end the evening, we invite attendees to a Colombian themed networking reception with drinks, Colombian food and an information expo on Colombia.

Colombia’s decision to re-establish a resident Embassy in Aotearoa New Zealand reflects a renewed commitment to deepening bilateral relations while strengthening its broader Pacific outlook. The relationship offers significant areas of convergence, including ocean governance, trade, science, education, culture and regional cooperation.
 
Against this backdrop, deeper engagement with Aotearoa New Zealand can serve as a gateway for Colombia’s broader multilateral and plurilateral engagement in the Pacific. New Zealand’s longstanding regional connections and institutional networks, combined with Colombia’s growing Pacific orientation, can create opportunities to connect bilateral cooperation with wider regional agendas and fora. We look forward to seeing you there!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• Registrations are required to attend this event as there is limited capacity. No walk ups allowed. 
• Non members can attend by paying the $20 fee per person.
• One ticket per person. For security reasons each ticket must contain your full first name and surname (that matches your ID), email address and phone number.
• If, after registering, you are unable to attend please have the courtesy to cancel your ticket via Humantitix to enable others on the waiting list to attend.
• In keeping with NZIIA practice, unauthorised recording of this event (either audio or video) is not permitted. Members and guests are reminded to adhere to the NZIIA Code of Conduct.
• For any queries please email: info@nziiawellington.org.nz

BIOGRAPHY - HE Isaura Duarte Rodriguez

Ambassador Duarte is a Career Diplomat with 26 years of experience on foreign policy making and practice. She has in depth knowledge of international relations, and solid experience in bilateral and multilateral negotiations, with proven ability in difficult negotiation processes, and in promoting agreements.

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, she has served as Coordinator for the Directorates of Europe, Multilateral Political Affairs, and also as an advisor in the Directorate of Human Rights. Likewise, she served as Alternate Representative of Colombia to the Organization of American States and was appointed to the Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, where she served as Political Coordinator of Colombia before the UN Security Council.

Her experience includes representing Colombia in the negotiation processes of inter-American conventions against corruption, against terrorism, and for the control of small arms. It also includes negotiating multiple bilateral agreements on security and other matters on behalf of Colombia.

She also served as General Consul of Colombia in Quito, Ecuador where she strengthened relationships and alliances with local and provincial governments, as well as with international humanitarian and non-governmental organizations to address the needs and protect the rights of Colombian nationals. More recently, and before being appointed as Colombia's Ambassador to the Government of New Zealand, she served as director of the National Office for the Determination of Refugee Status.During his tenancy as head of the Refugee Office she worked for the modernization of the refugee status determination procedure in Colombia including the adoption of a technological tool to assess the applications accumulated over time.

Ambassador Duarte is a social communicator and journalist graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. As a Chevening scholar she obtained a MSc in Defence, Development and Democracy at Durham University. She is a graduate student of the Specialization Program in Multilateral Diplomacy of the Geneva Institute of Higher International Studies, and the New Security Issues Program of the Geneva Security Policy Centre-GCSP.

BIOGRAPHY - Dr Tanya Jurado

Dr Tanya Jurado (MA (Hons), PhD, FHEA) is a Senior Lecturer at Te Kura Whai Pakihi Massey Business School, where she teaches and researches entrepreneurship and business ethics. She also serves as Kaiārahi.

Her research focuses on public policy support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), enabling them to do what they do best: contribute to the economy and society in sustainable ways. Dr Jurado has studied refugee entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, and high-growth enterprises, as well as key facets of entrepreneurship, including internationalisation, capability development, and SME resilience. She has also researched the retention of women in information technology and is currently a member of an MBIE Endeavour Fund-funded research team investigating the enabling of Indigenous trade.

In recent years, Dr Jurado worked with the Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence (LatAm CAPE), delivering executive education courses on exporting to Latin America.

Dr Jurado currently serves as President of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand and as Editor-in-Chief of Small Enterprise Research. She completed her PhD in Management at Massey University and holds a BA and an MA (Hons) in History from the University of Auckland.