Key announces trade policy to Federated Farmers

John Key said that National-led Government would promote New Zealand businesses overseas. Photo / Greg Bowker

A National-led Government would promote New Zealand businesses overseas with at least 28 trade missions in the next term, targeting in particular China, India and ASEAN nations.

Prime Minister John Key announced the trade policy in an address to the Federated Farmers national council meeting this morning.

"Government-led missions are a vital part of opening doors in Asia to New Zealand businesses," Mr Key said.

"On Sunday there was news of further progress, with the announcement at the Apec summit of the broad outlines for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. This was an important step towards gaining greater access for New Zealand exporters.

"However, there is still a lot of work that can be done in improving the competitiveness of New Zealand exports in key markets, and encouraging companies to take advantage of the opportunities they have."

The trade policy focuses on three areas:

- Pursuing further high-quality trade agreements by continuing to focus on completing successful free trade agreements out of our on-going negotiations, and concluding a quality TPP agreement while ensuring New Zealand's best interests are served.

- Rolling out the NZ Inc Strategy programme, including the release of more NZ Inc strategies.

- Boosting trade missions by developing a comprehensive programme of Government-led trade delegations to China, India and Asean, and targeting at least 28 high-quality trade missions led by ministers over the next three years.

He told the audience that he would "walk away" from any agreement that was not in the best interests of the country or the agricultural sector.

He repeated that the Pharmac model worked very well, and "we will not trade it away just to get a conclusion to the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal".

"While the Government can put in place the architecture to allow freer, trade, we must also take a role in ensuring New Zealand can make the most of those agreements," Mr Key said.

"That is what these trade missions are about."