New resident on trade corner

By DITA DE BONI

Even those business clusters determined to succeed on their own need a little help from officials sometimes.

And in the run-up to an election where business matters more than ever, the relationship tends to be reciprocal, as exhibiting members of the New Zealand Trade Centre found to their benefit on Friday night.

The centre - a permanent exhibition of around 2000 exported products privately funded by exhibitors and corporate sponsors - has shifted from its previous secluded position at the back of the Guardian Trust Building on Queen St. It now sits neatly across from Trade New Zealand and Industry New Zealand and directly under the Exporters Institute on Albert St, to be part of what the initiated call "trade corner".

At the launch of the new premises, Prime Minister Helen Clark and Trade New Zealand chief executive Fran Wilde spoke enthusiastically of the vital role exporters play in the health of the local economy, with the PM describing the sector as "our country's heroes".

She reminded those gathered of the Government's long-awaited export credit guarantee scheme, instituted this month after years of lobbying by small and medium businesses.

Ms Wilde spoke of a "more consistent approach" to the export community - which would see the Trade Centre assume a more important role in attracting foreign business.

Trade Centre founder Michael Taillie and managing director Travis Field told their own export success story.

They have sold the rights to the model to a group in Brisbane, where a similar trade-centred permanent exhibition is soon to be built.