Focusing business eyes on Europe

By DITA DE BONI

A "Festival of Europe", to be held late October in Auckland, aims to broaden exposure of things European beyond fettucine and Beaujolais to a wealth of business opportunities.

Sponsored in part by the Herald, the festival will bring leading European business leaders and dignitaries to the city.

While New Zealand has significant trade links with several Western European countries, festival management committee member Andrew Williams admits Europe is not quite so familiar with opportunities here.

"But we aim to have events from the festival reported back through the correct channels - like embassies - into the countries of Europe to raise awareness of this part of the world," he says.

Festival organisers hope a slew of high-profile speakers from Europe will complement the efforts of New Zealanders based in Europe, like Don McKinnon and Mike Moore, to facilitate bilateral trade. The organisers are meeting Government officials this week to involve them in proceedings here.

"New Zealand could learn a lot from the European way of doing things. For example, tourism is taken very seriously as a vital part of many European economies, but in New Zealand few people would probably know who the Minister of Tourism is."

Mr Williams says France, with a population of 60 million, hosts 67 million tourists a year while New Zealand, with a population of nearly 4 million, has only 1.5 million tourists.

"If we could double our number of tourists, we would eliminate our balance of payment problems." , Five "Leadership in the Knowledge Economy" seminars will run alongside the festival, tackling issues like the effect on trade of the Euro. Also speaking will be Henrik Lax, a Finnish member of parliament who was instrumental in that country's transformation to a technology-based economy.

A seminar featuring Israeli venture capital guru Dr Yigal Erlich will precede the festival on October 10. The festival proper will take place between October 27 and November 11.