French seminar looks at N.Z.

Press, 10 July 1985, Page 6

French seminar looks at N.Z.

NZPA special correspondent , Paris New Zealand’s role in the world today was the focus of a recent three-day seminar in France, indicating a growing European interest in the South Pacific. The live-in seminar, attended by 30 French and New Zealand. participants, was sponsored by the France-New Zealand Association, based in Paris. Keynote speakers were the New Zealand Ambassador to France, Mr John McArthur, who discussed New Zealand’s position with respect to the E.E.C., Professor Jean-Paul De Dekker, a prominent Belgian sociologist, who discussed New Zealand as a bi-cultural

society, and Mr Jean-Pierre Gomane, a former French naval officer, who spoke on New Zealand’s role in the Pacific. Professor De Dekker holds a chair at the Sorbonne University, and previously spent seven years in New Zealand. He and his wife are co-authors of the first French language travel guide on New Zealand. The France-New Zealand Association, formed in Paris in 1981, has 150 members. A second branch was established this year in Nice by Mr Maurice Carbonatto, who was until recently, cultural attache at the French Embassy in Wellington. The association plans to publish a report on the rece&J seminar.