Firms urged to seize nearby Pacific opportunities

New Zealand companies are being urged to increase trade with the Pacific Islands. Picture / Dean Purcell

Boosting trade with the Pacific beyond the current $1 billion is the aim of the Pacific Trade Expo in Auckland this week.

Organisers of the expo, which opens in Manukau today, are encouraging Kiwi companies to seize opportunities in the country's backyard to increase export returns.

At $1.1 billion, New Zealand's merchandised trade with Pacific countries was not insignificant, but New Zealand Pacific Business Council chair Gilbert Ullrich said the potential for further growth was huge. "We have really only scratched the surface," he said.

Individually, the markets of the Pacific region were relatively small. Viewed collectively, however, they were among New Zealand's top six export destinations, said Ullrich.

"The Pacific is resource-rich. There is timber, minerals and fish in abundance. And the vast Pacific seabed is the world's richest."

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise chief executive Tim Gibson said the expo would give small to medium-sized companies not currently exporting the chance to explore opportunities on their own doorstep.

"One of this economy's most urgent needs is to get more of our small-to-medium enterprises into exporting," said Gibson.

"While the prospect of trying to gain a market foothold in Asia, Europe or the United States might well seem too daunting for many companies, taking that first step into one or more of the smaller markets in the Pacific would be much less intimidating."

New Zealand's Fiji-based Pacific trade commissioner, Michael Greenslade, said it was in the interests of Pacific countries to transform themselves from aid-based to trade-based economies.

"The plain fact is the more Pacific countries can earn from exports, the more potential they have to buy from us."

And he said moves to create closer economic relationships in the region held great promise.

"There are those in Hawaii, potentially the biggest market in the Pacific, who are suggesting a role independent of the United States in some form of regional trade grouping," said Greenslade.

The expo will be held at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, Manukau today and tomorrow.