McClay Todd: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
McClay Todd: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12778] 
TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) 
: 
 It gives me pleasure to rise and speak on the foreign affairs and trade appropriations. I will start by saying what a hard-working Government this is. The work that we do is typified by two very hard-working Ministers. 
Moana Mackey 
: No one believes that. 
TODD McCLAY 
: I will mention them in a moment and talk about the work that they are doing for the benefit of the member opposite and it is hard hard work. 
Murray McCully is out there improving relationships with countries and regions of the world for the good of New Zealand. There is also Tim Groser our Minister of Trade whose great achievements in trade negotiations are free-trade agreements all over the place and negotiations that have been started. What an impressive and staggeringly hard-working Minister he is. 
On the area of trade it is worth mentioning for the benefit of members opposite who are looking very sleepy so late in the afternoon the very hard work that has been done. We have signed agreements with Malaysia and Hong Kong with regard to the ASEAN countries. We are moving towards negotiations with India the Gulf States and Korea. We have the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement and there is that wonderful trading opportunity with that country over the top of the European Union—Russia. What does this mean? It means more work for New Zealand businesses and better access to markets. The businesses of my electorate tell me that that is a great thing. 
What can a free-trade agreement do for us? Let us think about that jewel in the Crown—China. Last year the world was in a pretty bad recession and we know that New Zealand went into recession before many other countries of the world. While the world was doing it the tough way our exports to China increased by $1 billion because of the free-trade agreement with China. That was $1 billion in tough times. In two-way trade there was a 15 percent increase. Of that there was a 43 percent increase in trade for New Zealand companies and products to China. I congratulate these two Ministers and I ask them to keep up that very good work. 
As I said earlier New Zealand’s relationship with the world is improving and prospering. New Zealand aid funding has been increased to $169 million in 2010-11 and a lot more of this will be directed towards sustainable economic development. That is nothing but good news for Pacific Island countries—countries that we have a very close relationship with. It means that New Zealand taxpayer funds will be directed towards making their economies more sustainable making their businesses better and growing their economies. I recognise the work that has been put into the PACER-Plus negotiations and I look forward to more work over the current financial year. I believe that the countries of the Pacific are equally committed to making sure that we can get this agreement right as we move forward so that it will not only be a good agreement for them but also grow the relationship that we and Australia have with them. It is a very important agreement to them and because they are important to us it must also be an important agreement to us. 
I will touch on China and talk about some of the work that has been ongoing there. It is our second most important trading relationship and the potential of China is huge. It is unbelievable. I mentioned earlier that our two-way trade has increased. The Prime Minister has set out a challenge to New Zealand and to New Zealand businesses to increase our trade with China to $20 billion over the next 5 years. 
I had the opportunity to visit China and to go to Shanghai just last week with a group of Bay of Plenty exporters. They were a trade delegation that went to the expo at Shanghai to meet with their counterparts in order to promote the Bay of Plenty to them. Based upon the reception that our businesses in the Bay of Plenty got although the increase in two-way trade to $20 billion will be hard work it is more than achievable. We visited the New Zealand pavilion at the expo in Shanghai. A number of committed and hard-working New Zealanders were there representing our country. I understand that about 2.5 million Chinese people have visited New Zealand this year for tourism reasons. Well last week the 2 millionth visitor went through the New Zealand pavilion in Shanghai. The reception that New Zealand is getting is unbelievable. What a worthwhile investment on the part of the taxpayer to promote our country to that growing market in China. 
Whilst we were there a number of exporters from the Bay of Plenty used the visit to very good effect and I want to recognise a couple of them. New Zealand has potential in exporting to China in many areas. We have potential in protein and in the great products that our farmers produce for the agricultural trade in food fisheries and farming. There are New Zealand businesses like Comvita in my electorate which has brought a health product to China and there is Zespri with kiwifruit.