NRI Governor-General of New Zealand to make State Visit to India-
to reaffirm the strong and developing relationship between New Zealand and India

 

Auckland, Sep. 01, 2008
Sonu Prasad

The Governor-General, Hon Anand Satyanand, is to make a State Visit to India later this month.The Governor-General and Mrs Susan Satyanand will visit India from September 8-14, visiting New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The visit was an opportunity to reaffirm the strong and developing relationship between New Zealand and India, he said.

“India is the world’s largest democracy and has one of the fastest growing economies in Asia. There is already significant mutual trade between New Zealand and India and there is considerable potential to increase that even further.

“Our two countries also have much in common, including use of the English language, a Westminster parliamentary democracy, a common law-based legal system, Commonwealth ties and sporting affiliations in cricket and hockey.

“Those ties are underpinned by the significant community of New Zealanders of Indian origin who have made their home here. While I was born and bred in New Zealand, it is a great honour to return to the homeland of my grandparents, representing my country as Governor-General of New Zealand.”

The Governor-General will arrive in New Delhi on September 8 and will receive a ceremonial welcome from the President of India, HE Srimati Pratibha Patil, the following day. The President will also host the Governor-General to a State Banquet at the Presidential Palace, the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

While in New Delhi, the Governor-General will also meet the Vice-President, Hon Sri Mohammad Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister, Hon Dr Manmohan Singh, the Chief Justice, Sri K.G. Balakrishnan, and other ministers and key politicians.

On September 10, the Governor-General will visit the Commonwealth War Graves site in New Delhi before heading to Jawaharlal Nehru University where he will give a speech on bilateral relations between New Zealand and India.

On September 11, the Governor-General will fly to Mumbai in the western State of Maharashtra, spending two days in the city. While in Mumbai, he will attend a tourism event organised in liaison with Tourism New Zealand and visit an Indian company that is selling New Zealand software. He will also attend a State Banquet hosted by the State Governor, Hon Sanayangba Chubatoshi Jamir.

On September 13, the Governor-General will fly to Hyderabad in the southern State of Andra Pradesh. While in Hyderabad, he will hold talks with the Chief Minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and attend a State Banquet hosted by the Governor, Hon Narayan Dutt Tiwari. He will also visit businesses in the Hyderabad and deliver a speech to the Indian School of Business on economic reform in New Zealand.

The Governor-General and Mrs Satyanand will be accompanied by the Official Secretary at Government House and an Aide-de-Camp. The New Zealand Police will also provide security personnel.

While the Governor-General is overseas from September 7 to 15, the Chief Justice, Rt Hon Dame Sian Elias will act as Administrator of the Government.

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BIO

The Governor-General of New Zealand, the Hon Anand Satyanand, has had a multi-faceted career as a lawyer, judge and ombudsman. These roles have given him a wide perspective on the workings of government and its relationship with citizens, and the needs of individuals.

Born and raised in Auckland, he attended Richmond Road Primary in Ponsonby, and Sacred Heart College in Glen Innes. After graduating with a law degree from the University of Auckland in 1970, he spent the next 12 years in legal practice in Auckland, including employment with the Crown Solicitors’ Office, and subsequently in partnership with a Queen Street law firm, Shieff Angland. He became a district court judge in 1982, holding warrants for both criminal and civil jurisdictions. His main specialist work was in the criminal law area as a trial judge for 10 years.

In 1995 he was appointed as an ombudsman, completing two five-year terms in February 2005. Whilst an ombudsman, he dealt with complaints about unfairness on the part of government officials, assessed governance processes, and worked in the freedom of information jurisdiction of that office.

Throughout his career, the Hon Anand Satyanand, has contributed to professional legal education in New Zealand and internationally. He has been a teacher and mentor to many individuals and institutions, and has written and published in specialist areas. He was also a regular contributor to a Commonwealth Secretariat-funded Ombudsman training programme each year since 1998. He has been frequently called on as a presenter, chair, moderator, and facilitator at a wide range of seminars, professional education courses, and debates.

Since completing his term as an ombudsman, his experience and expertise was called on for a variety of tasks. In 2006 he reviewed the New Zealand Banking Ombudsman Scheme. He chaired the first fifteen months of work undertaken by the Confidential Forum for Former In Patients of Psychiatric Hospitals, and he undertook the task of being the first Registrar of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament. He relinquished these latter roles on taking up the office of Governor-General.

The Governor-General has a long-standing interest in international affairs and New Zealand’s place in the world. He was a government appointed Board member of Asia New Zealand Foundation and served on the national bodies of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs and Transparency International.

The Hon Anand Satyanand also was a contributor to community events, both cultural and sporting. Prior to his appointment as a judge he spent a number of years in football administration with New Zealand Rugby League, and as a member of the Freemans Bay Community Committee. Whilst working as a judge, he had two principal areas of community contact—as a prison board chairman and as a member of the national parole board.

In the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2005, he was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM) and with a view to his tasks as Governor-General, a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (PCNZM) in 2006, and an Additional Companion of the Queen's Service Order in 2007. He and his wife Susan were married in 1970, and they have three adult children.

The Honourable
Anand Satyanand
The Governor-General of New Zealand

• He was born and raised in Auckland to an Indo-Fijian and Anglo-Indian family.
• His grandparents arrived in Fiji from India in 1911, and were married on Nukulau Island.
• His father, Mutyala Satyanand, a medical doctor, was born in Sigatoka in 1913 and first came to New Zealand in 1927 to attend high school.
• His mother, Tara Tillak, a nurse, was from Suva and married his father after moving to New Zealand.

The Role of the Governor-General of New Zealand

• The Governor-General is the personal representative of our Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand.
• Neither Queen Elizabeth nor the Governor-General takes an active or initiating role in the executive functions of government – by binding convention, the Head of State almost always acts on the advice of Ministers of the Crown
• One of the distinctive features of our type of democracy – constitutional monarchy – is that our Head of State is non-partisan. (In many countries, the alternative to a monarch as Head of State is an elected president with executive powers.)
• New Zealand has chosen to keep the role of Head of State separate from the “business” of government. The Governor-General is regarded as a symbol of national unity and leadership.