Between the lines: Chinese team pitches projects

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

New Zealand was first to reach an agreement with China which would help to clear its way into the World Trade Organisation.

Deals with more influential countries have brought the prospect of WTO admission closer and, together with China's "open door" policy, has meant an economic resurgence for the world's most populous nation.

This new strength was evident in Auckland on Friday when a 70-strong delegation from the Yunnan province pitched business projects to an interested group of New Zealanders.

Yunnan, in south-western China, is climatically similar to New Zealand and its economy is agriculturally based.

The similarities made the two southern countries an obvious choice for a Yunnan business community looking for more advanced agricultural technology and products.

China experts said the initiative was well planned and the delegation seemed genuinely intent on buying products or accessing technology.

New Zealanders have been burnt in the past by visiting parties which have seemed commercially focused but have, instead, been more like jaunts for the boys.

One of the challenges of doing business across cultural divides, according to stud stock agent Kevin Ryan, who is involved with the joint venture cattle feedlot established by Angus breeder Tim Wilding in Tieling in central China, is the need for "unbelievable patience."

And, he said, a history of dealing government to government means many Chinese have little understanding of private enterprise.

That is something they have in common with New Zealanders.

Until Britain joined the European Union in the 1970s, much of New Zealand's trade was a supply-and-ship arrangement agreed between governments.

The last 25 years have been spent learning the complex business of finding and keeping new markets for its products.

Mr Ryan is now investigating the potential for using New Zealand cattle genetics to improve production from China's 140 million beef cows.

Meat processor Affco has also entered the field, and will officially open a new joint venture plant, with a capacity to slaughter 100,000 cattle a year, in Chengdu next month.

It will not have been easy to get that far. A guide to investing in Yunnan province provided at Friday's conference contained a bewildering array of departments and officials to deal with, and regulations to follow.

But at least one would-be New Zealand exporter was undaunted.

The detailed document was very positive, he said, because it clearly spelled out requirements and also demonstrated that protections would be in place for patented products and technologies.

New Zealanders are clearly keen to walk through China's open door.