Close to 400 business leaders attended the B20 Australia Summit. I ensured that 23 senior executives from New Zealand attended and we partnered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to make sure our voice was heard on key economic and social issues such as economic best practice, trade liberalisation and sustainable development. Our delegation was the third largest after Australia and the delegation from the United States.
Another good example of promoting New Zealand business on a global stage was our involvement in the OECD forum in Paris in May. It was the only in-person meeting of members of all four B20 taskforces and an opportunity to involve OECD members in the development of our recommendations.
While I've worked across all four B20 taskforces, it has been the work in the area of infrastructure development that I'm most proud of. One of the 20 B20 recommendations is to: "Establish an infrastructure hub with a global mandate to disseminate leading practice to facilitate the development and delivery of pipelines of bankable, investment-ready infrastructure projects."
Fletcher Building has a strong commitment to helping rebuild Canterbury and the infrastructure work being carried out in the region is a microcosm for infrastructure challenges and issues around the world.
New Zealand central and local government has done much to help Canterbury but governments seldom achieve all they want alone, and there will always be a need for private investment. The infrastructure hub would put consistent and transparent measures around infrastructure projects and assist private capital investment. For a local example of how this might work we only need to look at the New Zealand Transport Agency and its excellent models for combining public and private investment, its transparent tendering process and its robust project management.
While the establishment of a global infrastructure hub may be some way off, my involvement in the B20 has already led to opportunities, one of which was to create the opportunity for Christchurch City Council representatives to meet international investors who are interested in funding new and replacement infrastructure.
Being New Zealand's representative on the B20 has highlighted how advanced we are in many aspects of business. We are small and nimble with a flexible labour force, no corruption problems, and bilateral trade agreements with key partner countries. While we are ahead of the pack in many respects we do want to maintain this advantage to ensure continued economic growth and employment.
Communicating New Zealand's business successes has been a driving force of my involvement with the B20 and I've been proud to share this country's business innovation with my counterparts in Australia.
At the end of this month, Australia's G20 presidency comes to a close and Turkey will assume presidency. Under this umbrella the B20 Turkey 2015 will begin its own meetings, forums and other events. I have been asked to have continued involvement and will once again wear my Kiwi pin with pride as I search for ongoing opportunities to promote and develop New Zealand business growth.
B20 recommendations
1 Rapidly implement and ratify the Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement and provide capacity-building assistance and financial support for developing world trade partners to do the same.
2 Develop country-specific supply chain strategies and address supply chain barriers through domestic regulatory reform and infrastructure investment.
3 Reaffirm the critical importance of infrastructure - and private investment in infrastructure - and set specific five-year investment targets aligned to a national strategic vision.
4 Establish, publish and deliver credible national infrastructure pipelines that have been rigorously assessed and prioritised by independent infrastructure authorities, and which take full advantage of private sector finance and expertise.
5 Establish an Infrastructure Hub with a global mandate to disseminate leading practice to facilitate the development and delivery of pipelines of bankable, investment-ready infrastructure projects.
6 Establish a national innovation agenda and pipeline with supporting structural reforms.
7 Increase the level of alignment and responsiveness between the learning ecosystem and workforce needs.
8 Remove barriers inhibiting entrepreneurs from starting and growing businesses.
9 Undertake structural reform to increase flexibility, adaptability and mobility within and across labour markets.
10 Reinforce the standstill on protectionism and wind back barriers introduced since the implementation of the standstill, especially non-tariff barriers.
11 Ensure preferential trade agreements (PTAs) realise better business outcomes by consulting with business, improving transparency and consistency and addressing emerging trade issues.
12 Work towards greater promotion and protection of cross-border capital flows and foreign direct investment (FDI) through a Model Investment Treaty.
13 Finalise the core global financial reforms in 2014 and establish a protocol for international rule-making processes commencing in 2015, which better engages the private sector to ensure rules are fit for purpose and fully take account of their impact on the real economy.
14 Ensure emerging market economies are effectively represented on global standard setters and that regulations reflect the social, economic and financial challenges faced by EMEs.
15 Review prudential and conduct regulation to ensure restrictions on access to finance do not unduly hamper financial inclusion, trade and commodity markets and finance for SMEs.
16 Promote longer-term investment by removing needless regulatory disincentives, and developing local capital markets and financing instruments that better align risk and return.
17 Implement transparent infrastructure procurement and approvals processes that comply with global leading practice, including a commitment to specific timeframes for approvals.
18 Agree to harmonise laws related to anti-corruption that incentivise companies to build leading practice compliance programmes and self-report compliance breaches.
19 Enforce applicable legal frameworks such as the OECD Anti-bribery Convention and UN Convention against Corruption and implement or strengthen a national independent corruption authority in each jurisdiction to enforce.
20 Endorse the G8 core principles on transparency of ownership and control of companies and legal arrangements.
