Mitchell Mark: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Mark: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 30 October 2014. Volume:701;Page:421. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.MARK MITCHELL (National—Rodney)to the Minister for Economic Development: What recent progress has the Government made on making it easier for Kiwi businesses to sell their products and services abroad?Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development):I am pleased to advise the House that overnight the World Trade Organization gave the green light to New Zealand’s accession to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement. The accession to the agreement which took 2 years of negotiations guarantees New Zealand companies access to bid for Government contracts in 43 countries around the world. Previously New Zealand companies have needed to go through the often time-consuming and costly process of building offshore branches to be able to bid for those Government contracts. The agreement will remove the need for that allowing them to do business with offshore Governments and Government agencies from a New Zealand base creating more jobs and local investment in this country.Mark Mitchell: What does this agreement mean for Kiwi businesses?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: Accession to the Agreement on Government Procurement will give New Zealand businesses and exporters guaranteed access to bid for overseas Government contracts worth around an annual US$1.7 trillion. The agreement currently covers 43 World Trade Organization members including the major markets of the US Canada Korea Japan and across the European Union. That number will grow to 45 with the accession of New Zealand and Montenegro and a further eight World Trade Organization member countries are currently in the process of joining the agreement which will open up more markets for New Zealand companies. Acceding to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement is one of the more than 350 actions contained in our Business Growth Agenda and specifically one of the key initiatives identified in the export market stream which is aimed at lifting the proportion of exports as a percentage of GDP to 40 percent by 2025.Mark Mitchell: What other work is the Government doing to grow New Zealand exports?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: A lot of work led by trade Minister Tim Groser who works very hard for his country. We have signed free-trade agreements with Malaysia Hong Kong and ASEAN. We are progressing well on agreements with Korea and with the Gulf Cooperation Council. Just this last weekend Minsters met again in Sydney to continue discussions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We are of course funding the promotion of our education and tourism industries. We have established the New Zealand Story which is a new marketing framework to help our businesses leverage New Zealand’s brand and values on the world stage. As part of this year’s Budget we have expanded the number of New Zealand companies that New Zealand Trade and Enterprise works with intensively from 500 to 700 recognising that an increasing number and range of New Zealand businesses are doing more and more of their trade offshore and looking to break into more and larger markets.