As part of the government’s reconnection strategy to encourage export development and the return of tourists after COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will lead a trade mission to Melbourne and Sydney this week that will include over 30 New Zealand firms.
While in Sydney, Jacinda Ardern will also hold her official annual Leaders’ Meeting with Prime Minister Albanese and deliver a speech to the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF).
According to Jacinda Ardern, “This Government is actively building connections between government, business, and industry as one of many initiatives to reconnect New Zealand with the globe.”
“Australia is our second-largest trading relationship, with two-way trade totaling more than $22 billion in the year ending in December 2021. Many New Zealand enterprises look to Australia as their top export market.
The 32 New Zealand business leaders who are participating in this trade mission, according to Jacinda Ardern, “demonstrate the importance of our trading relationship with Australia by ranging from small innovative companies who are relatively early in their export journey to some of our largest exporters.”
The Prime Minister will attend a banquet featuring cuisine and drink from New Zealand and an ANZ business breakfast event in Melbourne. She will also meet with Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria.
She will meet with top tourist officials from both nations as well as influential Australian investors in Sydney.
She will also attend a dinner highlighting high-end retail businesses from New Zealand and featuring New Zealand food and beverage goods, as well as the debut of the David Jones and New Zealand “Discover New” collaboration.
She will also meet with the premier of New South Wales, Dominic Perrottet, and deliver a significant lecture on foreign policy at the Lowy Institute.
The prime minister will travel on the trade mission with Stuart Nash, the minister of small business and tourism.
Especially in the areas of food, beverage, consumer products, technology, manufacturing, and tourism, Australia loves New Zealand’s high-value, high-quality, and sustainable offerings, according to Stuart Nash.
“Australia is also New Zealand’s biggest source of tourists, with over 1.55 million coming to the country in 2019 and spending more than $2.7 billion.
As we welcome back our Australian friends, we have greatly increased the chances for tourism recovery now that our borders are open and pre-departure testing is no longer required.
Jacinda Ardern and other New Zealand ministers will attend the Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum when they are in Sydney (ANZLF).
According to Jacinda Ardern, “The Forum is a crucial opportunity to connect with government and industry leaders from both sides of the Tasman on our shared economic recovery in a more uncertain world.”
I’m happy to have Ministers Robertson, O’Connor, Nash, Jackson, Wood, Verrall, and Shaw with me at the Forum.
These officials will meet with their new Australian counterparts and engage in policy discussions on a variety of economic topics.
Together with Prime Minister Albanese, Prime Minister Ardern will speak at the Trans-Tasman Innovation and Growth Awards ceremony.
In advance of the Pacific Island Forum, Jacinda Ardern said, “Prime Minister Albanese and I will hold our annual Leaders’ Meeting on Friday.
This will be an opportunity to further exchange views on a wide range of global concerns, such as the crisis in Ukraine and climate change.
We’ve invited important Ministers to the meeting so that we may have a richer conversation about topics of particular relevance.
To guarantee that we confront this time of change and rebirth together, as allies and family, such talks are more crucial than ever.
On Monday, June 4, the prime minister will fly directly into Australia after leaving Europe. Along with the trade delegation, she will return to New Zealand through NZDF on June 8.