Fran O'Sullivan: Act now on trade openings

Vacancy: A high-powered international trade council to represent New Zealand business interests overseas.

The group should be tasked with promoting New Zealand's brand overseas and ensuring top-class business representation as this country moves to exploit new opportunities with Asean and China from the upcoming free trade negotiations. It should receive significant Government funding to get it off the ground.

Right now New Zealand is enjoying an incredible time in history with an enormous ability to make contacts at senior levels in the raft of countries with which we are cementing free trade deals. But the gap will not last long.

If the World Trade Organisation's Doha Round finally gets done, the pendulum will shift back to the multilateral game and preferential deals may fall out of favour.

It is clear that New Zealand's business profile offshore is well behind that of the growing political profile this country enjoys.

For instance, Prime Minister Helen Clark opened trade negotiations with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Apec meeting in Santiago. The event was foreshadowed well in advance. But New Zealand failed to leverage the historic Clark/Hu meeting as there was no business delegation - with interests in China - present to meet the top-flight Chinese delegation accompanying Hu. Thus an incredible opportunity to bed down high-level contacts was lost.

Neither has there been a prime ministerial-led trade mission to China organised to promote the face of New Zealand business and open doors. This needs to be organised promptly as our "first-mover" advantage as a nation will not last long given the countries lining up to join the PRC's free trade queue.

New Zealand has enjoyed fabulous publicity spinoffs from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But we do not foot it as a nation when it comes to promoting NZ Inc offshore and what it could bring to the table. Particularly in areas like Southeast Asia (where the Government has now opened trade negotiations with Asean), China, or even expanding business with the US - our second major trade partner.

It would be a simple matter to dump this at the feet of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, the organisation formed from Trade New Zealand and New Zealand Industry.

Trade New Zealand - under CEO Fran Wilde - enjoyed a strong profile offshore and locally. Similarly, Industry New Zealand had a high profile onshore as a result of its moves to deepen innovation here.

But the sum does not appear to equal the parts, in NZ Trade and Enterprise's case. National goals may have been set to ensure New Zealand increases exports and gets more companies export-fit while the free trade bubble lasts. But if they have, they have yet to register with the broader business community.

It is correct to say that there is already a plethora of organisations operating in this arena. But the organisations are fragmented, as was made clear in a meeting of members of the senior Auckland business community last week.

The New Zealand Asia Foundation has done some good work to bring together representatives from a range of organisations with an Asia-Pacific focus to form AP Net. But the name is meaningless outside New Zealand. In my view the rate of change in the region requires a much more ambitious approach.

Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton personally invited several players on to a ministerial Advisory Group, which advises him on issues relating to the WTO's Doha Round. It draws its members from private sector companies such as XSOL, Opus International, Fonterra, Otaku Fisheries, Ports of Tauranga and Taylormade Productions.

Then there is the raft of representatives from sectoral organisations such as forestry, farming and seafood; academia, and politically correct areas such as cultural representatives, trade unions and NGOs such as Oxfam.

Niceties aside, that constituency works well for a trade minister who has to assuage local opposition to trade liberalisation to ensure his negotiating mandate.

But many of these people do not actually represent New Zealand business.

Directors for the new council could be drawn from New Zealand's major exporting companies such as Fonterra and Carter Holt Harvey, other export companies such as Fisher & Paykel, organisations such as Federated Farmers, the Chambers of Commerce, Business New Zealand and various sectoral councils.

The vacancy exists. It needs to be filled and get moving quickly to work with Government departments internally and offshore to ensure high-profile promotion for New Zealand business as negotiations get moving.

Once other countries move on to the dance card, the opportunity to leverage national profile will be diminished.