Strong business leads come from trip to China

A Far North delegation has returned from China with strong business leads, a new appreciation of the potential offered by New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement with the thriving country, and a lot of follow-up work to do, says Far North Mayor Wayne Brown.

“Nothing in China is immediately successful, but we have met the right people and we have established the relationships and contacts we need to progress the opportunities we now have before us,” he said.

“The next phase will require some effort and we need to be focused on that if we are to get the results we want for the Far North. The overtures have been made and now it’s up to us to follow through.”

Mayor Brown returned to the Far North last week, having led a group of 10 business and professional people to Liaoning province at the invitation of Governor Chen Zhenggao.

The whirlwind eight day trip took the delegation on an intensive itinerary hosted by senior Government officials in three Liaoning cities. Delegates were shown highly specialised manufacturing plants, vast horticultural hothouses, dairy processing plants, a new agricultural cooperative, one of Liaoning’s best schools, and several new cities growing rapidly in line with their strategic plans.

The scale of these initiatives was stunning: a factory with 12,000 employees; a school with 10,000 pupils on seven different campuses; a brand new eco city - current population 500,000 growing to one million in the next two years; a new Olympic stadium seating 65,000 – more than the population of the Far North.

By our standards, everything was very big and happening very fast, Mayor Brown said.

“China is roaring ahead. It’s really on a roll and the smart thing is to get on board and go with it,” he said. “We have a sister relationship with Liaoning province with its population of 42million people. Its door is open to us and it’s a market we cannot afford to miss.”

Mayor Brown said the delegation was welcomed into organisations at the highest levels, arriving by police escort and often being greeted by salutes on arrival. “Our Chinese hosts were very interested in what we had to say and definitely had a positive attitude toward New Zealand and its people.”

Most delegates were able to establish contacts for their particular areas of expertise and discovered their interest was reciprocated.

For example, those with an interest in education such as Per and Clara Lugnet from Coopers Beach, who hope to establish an international school in the Far North, and Phil Giles, NorthTec’s regional manager, were able to make presentations direct to two of the high achieving North East Yucai School’s most senior staff.

Gavin Ussher, a Kaitaia-based agricultural consultant with PGG Wrightson, was able to meet and exchange contact details with agricultural and pastoral leaders and Mani Ihaka was pleased with her chance to meet Government fishing and aquaculture officials.

Shane Lloydd was very encouraged with the tourism contacts he made direct with the Government while Bill Birnie joined the Mayor in pursuit of retail business opportunities.

Forestry interests were promoted by Adrian Burr, Phil Giles and the Mayor, who also presented information about the Far North’s mineral and geothermal potential.

“The whole delegation championed the Far North as a great place to live, work and do business at every opportunity,” Mayor Brown said. “The trip was busy and the pace was on, but all of us have come back feeling that we have established good initial connections.

“We know that our task now is to nurture them so that they grow into tangible opportunity.”

The delegation’s visit followed a visit from a Liaoning delegation in May when six high ranking Government officials were shown some Far North business successes including Carrington Estate, Kerifresh, Imerys Tableware NZ, Marsden Estate, Kauri Cliffs, Juken NZ Ltd and Top Energy.

The return delegation was put together by Mayor Brown to represent and promote sectors including education, tourism, fishing and aquaculture, agriculture and animal husbandry, forestry, geothermal, horticulture and minerals, all of which were topics in which the Liaoning delegation expressed interest during its visit to the Far North.

“I look forward to building on our relationship with the people of Liaoning and am sure there will be more exchange visits in future,” he said. “I would like to work toward hosting a return delegation to the Far North next year if possible.”