The NZIIA Wellington Branch is delighted to invite you to a panel event celebrating the important contribution of Honorary Consuls.

Honorary consuls play a vital, albeit non-paid, role in representing a foreign government in a specific region, promoting bilateral relations, supporting citizens, and facilitating trade and cultural exchange, acting as a bridge between the home country and the host nation. The role of Honorary Consul is particularly crucial in smaller countries like New Zealand where the sending nation does not have a full-fledged embassy or consulate.

Join us for an interactive panel event to learn more about the both the important role Honorary Consuls play in New Zealand and New Zealand's Honorary Consuls play overseas.

We are delighted to welcome a great panel of Honorary Consuls including Professor Carmen Dalli (Hon Consul of Malta and Dean of the Wellington Consular Corps), Peter Kiely (Hon Consul of the Slovak Republic) and Gloriana Quirós Venegas (Hon Consul of Costa Rica). One further Honorary Consul of New Zealand to an overseas city to be confirmed (to join via Zoom).

Event details

Speakers: Panel event with Honorary Consuls to NZ of Malta, Slovak Republic and Costa Rica. One further NZ Honorary Consul based overseas TBC. Please refer to biographies below.

Date/Time: Wednesday 2 April 2025, 5:30-7:00pm

Venue: RHLT1, Pipitea Campus, Victoria University of Wellington

Doors Open: 5:05pm Q&A will be open to attendees.

Moderator: NZIIA Wellington Chair

Closing remarks and vote of thanks: Dr James Kember, NZIIA Board Chair

Terms and Conditions

-Registrations are required to attend this event. No walk ups allowed. Non members can attend by paying the registration fee.

-Should you have not renewed your NZIIA Wellington 2025 membership please do so prior to registering for this event.

-One ticket per person. Each ticket must contain your full first and surname, email address and phone number that matches your ID.

-All student members must register with their VUW or Massey student email for a valid registration.

-If, after registering, you are unable to attend the event please have the courtesy to cancel your ticket to ensure other people are able to attend. A waitlist will operate.

-In keeping with NZIIA practice, unauthorised recording of this event (either audio or video) is not permitted. Members and guest are reminded to adhere to the NZIIA Code of Conduct.

Biographies of our Panellists:

Professor Carmen Dalli, Honorary Consul for Malta and Dean of the Wellington Consular Corps

Carmen Dalli, MNZM, is Professor of Early Childhood (EC) Studies and past Dean of Education at VUW. She is an active researcher across the intersecting areas of EC policy, teacher professionalism, and pedagogy with under-three-year-olds in EC services. She regularly participates in policy-making fora in New Zealand and internationally, including her country of birth - Malta.

She was appointed Honorary Consul for Malta in 2001 and is currently Dean of the Wellington Consular Corps.

Peter Kiely, Honorary Consul General for the Slovak Republic

Peter Kiely ONZM is Honorary Consul General for the Slovak Republic and the longest serving Honorary Consul of 25 years. He is a lawyer by occupation. He is Vice President of the New Zealand Europe Business Council and member of NZIIA Wellington Branch.

He served on the University of Auckland Council for 9 years and was Pro-Chancellor. He was Chairman of the Pacific Development and Conservation Trust for 10 years and a member of the Pacific Islands Trade and Advisory Board for 4 years, and Chairman of the Pacific Cooperation Foundation from 2010-2018.

Gloriana Quirós Venegas, Honorary Consul for Costa Rica

Gloriana Quirós Venegas is the Honorary Consul of Costa Rica in Wellington since June 2023. Gloriana first visited New Zealand in 2005 as an AFS student for a year exchange programme, where she lived in a rural village, Whakamaru, located in the Waikato region. She moved from Costa Rica to Wellington in 2012, where she has worked since in the infrastructure sector in development management, dam safety engineering across New Zealand, Fiji and The Philippines, project management in the campus at VUW, public housing projects and for Transpower in all phases of projects within substations, transmission lines, secondary systems and customer portfolio.

Gloriana is a Civil Engineer from the University of Costa Rica and holds Master Studies in Dam Safety Management and Operation from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

As a member of NZIIA, Club Latino and the Latin American Women in Engineering Group, she hopes to continue contributing into the cultural, political and environmental scene of Wellington, a city she can certainly call her second home.

Plus a New Zealand Honorary Consul based overseas (to join via Zoom) to be confirmed