Talking networks with the President of New Caledonia

Last week a delegation from New Caledonia, including Philippe Germain, President of the Government of New Caledonia, and Yves Lafoy, Official Representative of New Caledonia to New Zealand, came to NIWA to learn about the technology and infrastructure that supported New Zealand research and education. They were co-hosted by REANNZ and NeSI. 

REANNZ gave a short presentation about our network, and the work our members were doing. NeSI presented on the supercomputing environment in New Zealand and also gave a tour of the NIWA supercomputer. 

President Germain and a 30-strong business delegation were in New Zealand from the 6th - 11th June as part of a visit discussing closer ties with New Caledonia's closest neighbour. The visit was aimed at developing political and economic relations between the two countries. Trade, tourism, agrifood and collaboration in research & education were high on the agenda. The New Caledonia delegation was particularly interested in the infrastructure that was required for a successful research and education ecosystem; including high-bandwidth and low latency access to supercomputing facilities.