New Zealand Business at APEC Honolulu

1 November 2011

New Zealand Business at APEC Honolulu

New Zealand business will be strongly represented at next week’s APEC meetings in Honolulu, the NZ US Council and the NZ International Business Forum (NZIBF) said today.

"Government and business leaders from APEC’s 21 economies will gather in Honolulu during the week of 7 November for discussions focusing on the future sustainable growth of the region. Among them will be a delegation of twelve senior business leaders brought together by the NZ US Council,” said Stephen Jacobi who acts as Executive Director for both the NZ US Council and the NZIBF.

Among the issues to be discussed in Honolulu include job creation, green growth and improving the business environment. The broad outlines of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations are expected to be announced on the margins of the meeting.

"New Zealand’s economic future lies in closer integration with the dynamic Asia Pacific economies. As the region’s pre-eminent organisation focused on trade and economic co-operation APEC is a laboratory for exploring new ideas aimed at promoting regional prosperity. 80% of New Zealand exports go to APEC economies and New Zealand plays a key role in thought-leadership in APEC. That makes the series of meetings in Honolulu critical for our future particularly at this time of fragile economic recovery and continuing downside risks to the global economy," said Mr Jacobi.

The fourth meeting this year of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) will take place from 8-10 November attended by New Zealand's ABAC members Tony Nowell, Gary Judd and Alternate Member Stephen Jacobi. Fiona Cooper Clarke will attend as Senior Advisor to the New Zealand delegation. NZIBF provides policy advice and support to ABAC New Zealand.

"The key issues for ABAC from New Zealand's point of view are advancing the APEC free trade and growth agendas, identifying next generation business issues to be included in regional FTAs, promoting TPP as a pathway towards a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), enhancing food security through the APEC Food System and a proposed Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS) and addressing financial as well as small and medium size business issues," said Mr Jacobi.

ABAC members will present their views and recommendations directly to APEC Economic Leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, at the annual ABAC dialogue, in Honolulu on Sunday 13 November. ABAC’s views are further outlined in a comprehensive report “Employing People and Ideas for Sustained Growth in Asia Pacific” which will be released in Honolulu.

The programme for the New Zealand business delegation commences in Honolulu on 10 November. They plan to meet Deputy Prime Minister English, Foreign Affairs Minister McCully and Trade Minister Groser; join a lunch organised by the US National Centre for APEC; participate in a TPP seminar organised by the US TPP Business Coalition; attend a seminar on food security at which the Policy Partnership for Food Security will be discussed; attend a number of meetings to discuss how to grow the SME sector; and participate in a meeting with TPP Trade Ministers.

On 11-12 November the delegation will participate in the APEC CEO Summit under the theme “The Future. Defined”. The Summit will be addressed by several APEC Economic Leaders including President Obama and President Hu Jintao.

"New Zealand’s delegation includes representatives from some well known New Zealand companies. In Honolulu they will interact with the large number of regional business representatives present including the leaders of some of the world’s largest companies like Boeing, Chevron, COFCO and Time Warner among others," said Mr Jacobi.

The New Zealand business delegation list is below.

The APEC CEO Summit agenda available at: http://www.apec2011ceosummit.com.

ENDS

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