This conference focusses on the influences shaping the Pacific's future and some of its biggest challenges. Shifts in global power and globalisation, climate change, rising inequality, changing multilateral relations, crime in the Pacific, labour migration and ongoing advances in technology are all serving to add to the geopolitical and development context of the Pacific. The environmental, political and economic uncertainty created by these trends may exaggerate the current vulnerabilities and dependencies the region experiences.
We also look at how youth are stepping into new leadership and economic roles that will help the region diversify and move forwards. They are generating new models of leadership, new business opportunities and a raft of ways to assist their own countries to develop.
The conference will be vital for understanding the new dynamics in the Pacific and what these mean for the diplomatic community, the business community, and for Pasifika and New Zealand communities everywhere.