Wellington Hits New High in Economic Rankings

Wellington has scored highly in a survey of Asia-Pacific "Cities of the Future".

Wellington rates highly in the fDiIntelligence.com business friendliness category, being placed eighth in the top 10 cities, ahead of Melbourne and Sydney and two places behind Auckland (sixth).

The capital is also ranked second in the quality of living index - ahead of Sydney, Auckland, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Gold Coast.

fDiIntelligence is a specialist division of the Financial Times Ltd, based in London and established to provide insight into globalisation and foreign direct investment. fDi Magazine claims to be the world's premier publication for the business of globalisation, while fDiIntellifgence.com is the online home of the magazine.

The business-friendly criteria includes the number of days it takes to start a business, ease of doing business and the number of companies in high-tech manufacturing and the knowledge-based sector (per 100,000 population). Quality of life criteria includes income per-capita, access to clean water, life expectancy, unemployment rate and the percentage of the population with a tertiary education.

Wellington City Council's Economy Portfolio Leader, Councillor Jo Coughlan, says the city's economic development strategy - approved at today's City Council meeting - will help push Wellington further up the ladder. She says the goal is for Wellington to make the top 10 in the overall and the economic potential categories.

Cr Coughlan says Wellington is starting to get a reputation as an innovative city that is ideal for investing and doing business.

She says the Council's economic development strategy outlines an aggressive plan to attract talent, business and investment to Wellington that will put the economy on a sustainable and more diverse footing.

"We need long-haul direct flights to Asia and an aggressive marketing campaign to promote Wellington as a destination for business investment," says Cr Coughlan.

"A stronger focus on retaining businesses that are already here and investing in infrastructure and amenities are all essential if we are to drive our economy forward."