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Back to SearchGlobal professional services company GHD has highlighted the importance of building cultural and professional experiences in the Indo-Pacific region at the New Colombo Plan awards presentation in Canberra on 25 November.
The New Colombo Plan enables more than 120 Australian university students to live, study and work in the Indo-Pacific region each year with the aim of deepening Australia’s relationships in the region.
In the 2020 intake announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, GHD is proudly sponsoring two scholars and Fellows of the program – Shannon Shulz and Kit Muirhead, both from University of Melbourne. Shannon will spend time in GHD’s Fiji office next year while Kit will join GHD in Papua New Guinea. On their return to Australia these two scholars will be offered similar internships in one of GHD’s Australian offices.
“We share the government’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific Region and we understand that personal ties, experiences and respectful partnerships create the strongest connections,” says Ben White, GHD’s Operations Manager for the Pacific.
“Across GHD’s regional offices – Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Guam, Saipan and China – and long-term project sites in Timor Leste and the Cook Islands, it is the partnership between our local employees and those based in Australia, New Zealand and the United States that makes us a strong part of the regional community,” said Ben.
May Ngui, GHD’s Canberra Regional General Manager, says “We, like all the program’s business partners, are proud to be directly partnering with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to deliver the New Colombo Plan. These scholarships are building future leaders who will contribute to the Indo-Pacific region in which we have a footprint across a range of sectors and organisations. Together with these emerging leaders, we can create lasting community benefits.”
To date, GHD has hosted a total of six New Colombo interns in its Fiji and Philippines offices, with Evie Packett and Joel Kennaway from the 2019 scholar group currently doing internships at GHD offices in Fiji and the Philippines respectively.