Guest Post: Getting down to business in Lima

by | Nov 11, 2016 | Trade Working Blog | 0 comments

Remove

Guest post from Katherine Rich
CEO of the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council and a member of the APEC Business Advisory Council

free-thinkingThe US election has raised the stakes of meetings in Lima, Peru, next week when business leaders will get a rare opportunity to sit down with the leaders of APEC’s 21 economies incuding our own Prime Minister John Key.

The agenda will focus on ways to grow economies and living standards, address food security and sustainablity and – yes, especially now – to boost trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Next week I will be joining fellow members of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) including Kiwi colleagues Tony Nowell and Stephen Jacobi, for our last meeting of the year which incorporates both the APEC CEO Summit and our annual dialogue with Leaders.    I will have the opportunity for a smaller-group session with Presidents Xi Jin Ping of China and Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Tony with Russian President Putin of Russia and PM Trudeau of Canada, and Stephen with PM Abe of Japan and Philippine President Duterte.

These discussions are exciting, but now more important than ever. The Asia-Pacific region is central for our prosperity and prospects: it takes over half our exports, encompasses more than 3 billion people, and 60 percent of the world’s GDP.

While the APEC region is an economic powerhouse, globally trade and economic growth are faltering. Our key messages will include the importance of addressing public anxiety over globalisation alongside promoting trade, investment and closer regional economic integration. What’s next after TPP is bound to be a discussion pursued vigorously in both the meeting and corridors.We will also talk about enhancing food security and food trade around the region, and helping small and medium sized businesses.

During our separate ABAC meeting, we will focus on non-tariff barriers (NTBs): I will be leading a further discussion about a set of cross-cutting NTB principles, to try to avoid these measures acting as a handbrake on trade (including of course for our New Zealand exporters). We will also hear a report-back on ABAC research into NTBs in food trade, to which many New Zealand food stakeholders generously contributed.

Other topics of interest include structural economic reform, particularly in the services sector; the benefits of a region-wide approach to global data standards to enhance supply-chain connectivity, security and integrity; a report-back on APEC’s “Food Security Week” as well as broader contributions on trade issues including the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.

APEC meetings are sometimes labelled as a talk-fest. They are more than that but at a time when we stand on the edge of a very difficult future for trade this talk is definitely not just business as usual.

 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

REGISTER WITH TRADE WORKS

Register to stay up to date with latest news, as well as saving and discussing articles you’re interested in.

 

Remove

 

Latest News

LAMENTATION DAY

When President Trump spoke in the White House Rose Garden to launch his wrecking-ball “fair and reciprocal tariffs”, there were some in the audience wearing hard hats.  While this was doubtless to show support for the move amongst hard-working Americans, maybe...

BUSINESS FORUM WELCOMES INDIA FTA NEGOTIATIONS

Media release, 17 March 2025 The NZ International Business Forum (NZIBF) welcomes the launch of free trade negotiations with India, announced in Delhi, and is particularly pleased that these will proceed on a comprehensive basis. “There is enormous value to be gained...

Playing the long trade game with India

Prime Minister Luxon is at last making his visit to India with a large business and community delegation.  We wish them well in expanding and deepening the relationship with India.  The reasons for doing so we have explained previously. Our Government’s...

SUBMISSION TO THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

PROPOSED GREEN ECONOMY JOINT WORKING GROUP WITH CHILE AND SINGAPORE MARCH 2025 Introduction This submission is made on behalf of the New Zealand International Business Forum (NZIBF), whose members are listed at Annex A[1]. NZIBF is a forum of senior business leaders...