SIBU: Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is leading a Sarawak delegation to visit Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand from March 13 till today.
A press release from the ministry yesterday said the delegation comprised Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Snowdan Lawan, Dato Sri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib, permanent secretary to Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Hii Chang Kee, CEO of Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) Dr Ong Kong Swee and others.
“The visit focussed on tourism and sports. On tourism, the visit aims to have closer insights on New Zealand’s tourism development strategies and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) mechanism.
“While on sports, the visit looked at the strategies and mechanisms of New Zealand Sports which propels the nation to become a high performing sports nation,” it said.
The delegation also took the opportunity to meet up with the High Commissioner of Malaysia to New Zealand, Dato Lim Kim Eng, and the director of Tourism Malaysia in Auckland, Rosli Reshid Mohd Saini.
The delegation made courtesy calls to New Zealand Department of Statistics, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) and Regional Tourism New Zealand (RTNZ).
The minister also met up with New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NZ Maori Tourism to discuss on indigenous cooperation between Sarawak and New Zealand.