New Zealand business will be strongly represented at next week’s APEC meetings in Honolulu, the NZ US Council and the NZ International Business Forum (NZIBF) said today.

“Government and business leaders from APEC’s 21 economies will gather in Honolulu during the week of 7 November for discussions focusing on the future sustainable growth of the region. Among them will be a delegation of twelve senior business leaders brought together by the NZ US Council,” said Stephen Jacobi who acts as Executive Director for both the NZ US Council and NZIBF.

Among the issues to be discussed in Honolulu include job creation, green growth and improving the business environment. The broad outlines of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations are expected to be announced on the margins of the meeting.

“New Zealand’s economic future lies in closer integration with the dynamic Asia Pacific economies. As the region’s pre-eminent organisation focused on trade and economic co-operation APEC is a laboratory for exploring new ideas aimed at promoting regional prosperity. 80% of New Zealand exports go to APEC economies and New Zealand plays a key role in thought-leadership in APEC. That makes the series of meetings in Honolulu critical for our future particularly at this time of fragile economic recovery and continuing downside risks to the global economy,” said Mr Jacobi.

The fourth meeting this year of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) will take place from 8-10 November attended by New Zealand’s ABAC members Tony Nowell, Gary Judd and Alternate Member Stephen Jacobi. Fiona Cooper Clarke will attend as Senior Advisor to the New Zealand delegation. NZIBF provides policy advice and support to ABAC New Zealand.

“The key issues for ABAC from New Zealand’s point of view are advancing the APEC free trade and growth agendas, identifying next generation business issues to be included in regional free trade agreements, promoting TPP as a pathway towards a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), enhancing food security through the APEC Food System and a proposed Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS) and addressing financial as well as small and medium size business issues,” said Mr Jacobi.

ABAC members will present their views and recommendations directly to APEC Economic Leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, at the annual ABAC dialogue, in Honolulu on Sunday 13 November. ABAC’s views are further outlined in a comprehensive report “Employing People and Ideas for Sustained Growth in Asia Pacific” which will be released in Honolulu.

The programme for the New Zealand business delegation commences in Honolulu on 10 November. They plan to meet Deputy Prime Minister English, Foreign Affairs Minister McCully and Trade Minister Groser; join a lunch organised by the US National Centre for APEC; participate in a TPP seminar organised by the US TPP Business Coalition; attend a seminar on food security at which the Policy Partnership for Food Security will be discussed; attend a number of meetings to discuss how to grow the SME sector; and participate in a meeting with TPP Trade Ministers.

On 11-12 November the delegation will participate in the APEC CEO Summit under the theme “The Future. Defined”. The Summit will be addressed by several APEC Economic Leaders including President Obama and President Hu Jintao.

“New Zealand’s delegation includes representatives from some well known New Zealand companies. In Honolulu they will interact with the large number of regional business representatives present including the leaders of some of the world’s largest companies like Boeing, Chevron, COFCO and Time Warner among others” said Mr Jacobi.

The New Zealand business delegation list is appended below.

The APEC CEO Summit agenda is available at: http://www.apec2011ceosummit.com.

For further information please contact:
Stephen Jacobi, Executive Director, 0294 725 502
Gabrielle Rush, Associate Director 021 377 686

About The Trans Pacific Partnership
TPP is an existing trade agreement between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore which Australia, Malaysia, Peru, the United States and Viet Nam wish to join. Nine rounds of negotiations have been held involving the nine partners. The economies of APEC account for 80% of New Zealand’s total merchandise trade. Trade with APEC economies has been growing at an average of 4.5% per annum over the last 20 years. The broad outlines of the future agreement are expected to be released at APEC Honolulu.

About the NZUS Council ? www.nzuscouncil.com
The NZ US Council is a non-partisan body funded by both business and the Government to promote New Zealand’s broader relationship with the US. Two-way trade with the US is valued at over $8 billion and the US is a leading source of investment, innovation and business ideas. The NZ US Council is actively engaged in co-ordinating business and government efforts towards concluding a comprehensive, high quality result to the TPP negotiations.

About the NZ International Business Forum (NZIBF) ? www.nzibf.co.nz
NZIBF is a business organisation which aims to generate wealth for New Zealanders by helping ensure that New Zealand enterprises are fully integrated and engaged in the global economy and New Zealand’s global competitive position is maximised. NZIBF provides leadership, works with companies and other business organisations to implement key projects and articulates New Zealand’s international business priorities to both the New Zealand Government and stakeholders. NZIBF participants represent companies and sectors with a turnover of over $20 billion.

APEC CEO SUMMIT 2011

CONFIRMED NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS DELEGATES

Malcolm Bailey, Director, Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd
Michael Barnett, Chief Executive, Auckland Regional Chamber of Commerce
Wayne Boyd, Chairman, Telecom New Zealand Limited
Rod Carr, Vice Chancellor, University of Canterbury
Errol Clark, Executive Chairman, International Capital Corporation
Ian McCrae, Chief Executive, Orion Health
Scott Champion, Chief Executive, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd
David McLean, Chief Executive, Westpac Institutional Bank

ABAC Reps/staffers
Gary Judd QC, NZ ABAC Representative,
Tony Nowell, NZ ABAC Representative, Valadenz Limited
Fiona Cooper-Clarke, Senior Policy Advisor, ABAC New Zealand
Stephen Jacobi, Executive Director, NZUS Council/NZIBF & Alternate Member ABAC NZ