Korea-NZ Business Roundtable To Be Held Seoul

Media release 4 June 2009

Korea-NZ Business Roundtable To Be Held Seoul, 9-10 June

A high level business delegation will travel to Seoul next week for the first Korea-New Zealand Business Roundtable, to be held 9-10 June, the NZ International Business Forum said today.

“This is the largest delegation of New Zealand business leaders to have visited Seoul and their visit takes place as negotiations get underway for a free trade agreement between the two countries”, said NZIBF Executive Director Stephen Jacobi.

The Roundtable is being organised by NZIBF in association with the Korean International Trade Association (KITA).

Mr Jacobi said 33 New Zealanders and 36 Koreans were expected to attend the invitation-only event which would look at how New Zealand and Korea, as complementary economies, can co-operate more closely in the areas of trade and investment, green growth and information and communications technology.

“Korea is already New Zealand’s ninth largest trading partner. We believe there is capacity to grow this relationship even further and business needs to play a leading role in making that happen”.

New Zealand’s delegation includes Chairs/Board members/CEOs of the following companies and organisations: Auckland University and Uniservices, ASB Bank, Anzco Foods, Asia NZ Foundation, Fonterra, Harmonic, Hyundai New Zealand, Meat and Wool New Zealand, NZ Chambers of Commerce, Pike River Coal, PF Olsen, Sanford, Straker Software, Zespri.

The Minister of Trade, Hon Tim Groser, will deliver a key note address at the Roundtable. The following government agencies will be represented: Customs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and NZ Trade and Enterprise.

Two young leaders from the Asia NZ Young Leaders network will also participate.

NZIBF acknowledges the support of the following sponsors of the New Zealand delegation: Anzco Foods, Asia NZ Foundation, Fonterra, Meat and Wool NZ, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, NZ Trade and Enterprise and Zespri.

The Korea New Zealand Business Roundtable opens in Seoul on the evening of Tuesday 9 June and concludes on 10 June.

About 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 participants represent companies and sectors with a turnover of over $20 billion.

About NZ’s economic relationship with Korea
Korea is New Zealand’s ninth largest trading partner (two way trade totalled NZ$2.42 billion in the year to June 2008). New Zealand’s exports to Korea include wood products (particularly logs), aluminium, petroleum oil, fruit, dairy products, and other agricultural products, which together comprise nearly 60 percent of total exports. Korea is New Zealand’s principal market for deer velvet exports. New Zealand’s imports from Korea have risen by almost 90 percent since 1990 and are dominated by cars and petroleum products, with cell phones taking an increasingly large share. Many Korean brand names, such as Hyundai, LG Electronics, Samsung and Daewoo, are household names in New Zealand. Korea is our second largest source of overseas students (17,189 in 2008). Korea remains our 6th largest source of visitors (71,213 in the year to March 2009). Korea is also an important source of migrants and there are approximately 40,000 Koreans living in New Zealand (almost 1% of the New Zealand population!). Korea is also an important potential partner in such fields as science and technology, investment and film. There are increasing cultural interactions and sister city relations, and a growing number of links between educational institutions in both countries. A joint study, completed in November 2008, found that an FTA could produce accumulated gains to real GDP over the 2007-2030 period of US$5.9 billion and US$4.5 billion for Korea and New Zealand respectively.

ENDS

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