Blood ties with Greece foundation for market expansion

By GREG ANSLEY

ATHENS - New Zealand intends spinning off long-standing goodwill to re-brand itself in Greece and forge new alliances to attack both regional markets and regulators in Brussels.

Greece is regarded as a potentially rich target for New Zealand, although our diplomatic and trade initiatives there now operate out of Italy. Prime Minister Helen Clark this week made it clear no funds were available to reopen the Athens Embassy closed in 1991.

The key aim will be to reposition New Zealand as a niche supplier of sophisticated high-tech products, moving beyond the sheepmeat that has traditionally dominated our modest exports to the country.

At the same time, Wellington will work with Greece in Brussels on issues of common concern, focusing initially on new visa proposals that would significantly restrict New Zealanders' freedom of travel in the European Union.

Both Helen Clark and Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis placed considerable importance on person-to-person ties in their talks in Athens, reaching agreement on a new working holiday arrangement that will allow young Kiwis to stay and work in Greece for up to nine months.

Memories of New Zealand's costly defence of Greece in the Second World War, remembered in the weekend's commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the battle of Crete, have given Wellington strong leverage in Athens.

New Zealand's interests in Greece are also pushed heavily by the New Zealand-Hellenic Association, representing a local community of about 400 expatriate Kiwis and New Zealand-born Greeks.

Athens traditionally takes a close interest in maintaining links with expatriate Greek communities. A scheme funded by the ruling Pan Hellenic Socialist Movement Government provides grants for cultural and family visits to Greece by New Zealand children of Greek ancestry.

Wellington wants to build on both emotional bonds and present export sales to lift the size and diversity of the Greek market and to create a new gateway to New Zealand participation in the reconstruction of the war-devastated Balkans.

New Zealand runs a huge trade surplus with Greece: exports of $67 million in 2000 against imports of just $12.4 million, largely of farm produce, aluminium foil and steel.

New Zealand's exports are dominated by sheepmeat and rising sales of seafood.

But Wellington now wants the country to be seen as a First World provider of sophisticated technology. That image already has a toehold in Greece: a West Auckland company, Glidepath, supplied the complex baggage-handling system at Athens' new Spata International Airport.

With the Athens Olympics in mind, trade officials are now promoting the accreditation system developed for the Auckland Apec summit and the imagery created for the America's Cup.

NZ Post is already pursuing a Balkans alliance with Hellenic Post, and there is potential for further infrastructure contracts for other New Zealand companies.