Lord Patten coming to NZ

university-of-canterbury

Fri Aug 21 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Lord Patten coming to NZ

Friday, 21 August 2009, 11:24 am
Press Release: University of Canterbury

Former European Union Commissioner and Hong Kong Governor, the Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes, is being brought to New Zealand by the University of Canterbury to deliver the annual Europa Lecture.

The Europa Lecture is hosted by UC's National Centre for Research on Europe and the European Union Centres Network of New Zealand. It will be held on 29 October in the Great Hall at the Christchurch Arts Centre.

During his two-week visit Lord Patten will engage with University of Canterbury graduate students working on EU-related theses, brief the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as participate as a key-note speaker at a conference to mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Lord Patten was elected as Member of Parliament for Bath in May 1979, a seat he held until April 1992. Following the General Election of June 1983, Lord Patten was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office and in September 1985 Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science. In September 1986 he became Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1989 and was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1998. In July 1989 he became Secretary of State for the Environment. In November 1990 he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Lord Patten was appointed Governor of Hong Kong in April 1992, a position he held until 1997, overseeing the return of Hong Kong to China. He was Chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland set up under the Good Friday Peace Agreement, which reported in 1999.

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From 1999 to 2004 he was European Commissioner for External Relations, and in January 2005 he took his seat in the House of Lords. In 2006 he was appointed Co-Chair of the UK-India Round Table.

He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University in 1999, and elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 2003.

His publications include What Next? Surviving the 21st Century (2008); Not Quite the Diplomat: Home Truths About World Affairs (2005) and East and West (1998), about Asia and its relations with the rest of the world.

ENDS

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