Welcome from the Director

A message from Michelle Slade, Director, New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office

To New Zealanders, 6 February is known as “Waitangi Day”. It commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, on 6 February 1840, by representatives of the Maori people and representatives of the British Crown. The Treaty of Waitangi is generally recognised as New Zealand’s founding document. Over the years, Waitangi Day has come to symbolise – for many New Zealanders – an expression of the commitment of our different peoples and cultures to work together to build our community.

New Zealand, by its geographical location and population mix, is part of the Asia/Pacific region. As neighbours in the broader Asia/Pacific region, New Zealand and Taiwan have much in common, including the substantial communities of migrants and students with experience of life and connections straddling both places.

These active people-to-people connections contribute strongly to the constant tourism and education flows between New Zealand and Taiwan. Over recent years, the number of Taiwanese visiting New Zealand has been around 30,000 per year, with young travellers and those pursuing more extended, independent itineraries growing. A working holiday scheme for young travellers (18-30 years old) introduced in 2004 has proved very popular, with strong demand for places under the scheme. Similarly, study in New Zealand – both short-term English language study and longer term (secondary or tertiary) study remains attractive, with around 3,000 Taiwanese visiting New Zealand for study each year.

Our economic and trade connection is also a vibrant one, with two-way trade reaching NZ$1.6 billion in 2007. Of this, New Zealand exports to Taiwan totalled NZ$795 million (New Zealand’s seventh largest export destination) and New Zealand imports from Taiwan totalled NZ$834 million (New Zealand’s twelfth largest source of imports).

But we are not resting on our laurels. In the past year, arrangements have been put in place to open up trade opportunities in the areas of tropical fruit from Taiwan (fresh lychees) and vegetables (sweet potato) from New Zealand. The complementarity of our growing seasons means this kind of trade can work to mutual advantage.

The expansion of trade between New Zealand and Taiwan can also be seen in the diversification of the range of export products on offer. In New Zealand’s case, we have seen a considerable increase in the profile of New Zealand wines in the Taiwanese market (with more than twenty New Zealand wineries now represented). We have also seen growth in demand for organic and natural products from New Zealand.

Our economic ties now go way beyond the traditional areas, however, with work to expand research collaboration and commercial joint development in a range of science and technological areas too. Active connections between scientists are being developed under a series of joint seminars, launched in November last year with a focus on agricultural technology and to be continued in May this year with a geo-science focus. Biotechnology – and particularly biofuels – was the core theme of the most recent joint meeting of business council leaders held in Auckland in November.

The creative industries – including film-making, fashion and ICT – are other areas with an expanding profile. New Zealand films screening at Taiwan’s Golden Horse film festival proved popular with Taiwanese audiences and a programme of training exchanges is underway between companies in the areas of digital content and post-production technology. In the ICT sector, there are New Zealand companies active in the Taiwan market in as diverse a range of applications as software development and touch screen components; specialised medical devices; crystals and oscillators used in GPS devices and network security systems.

Cultural exchange will continue to feature prominently in the year ahead, with a major New Zealand exhibition, Vaka Moana (about the early voyagers in the Pacific) in Taitung in February and in Taichung in July and a tour by performing arts group Te Vaka in March. (See associated stories for more details).

As New Zealand celebrates Waitangi Day – and Taiwanese people prepare for the important Lunar New Year festivities – we are looking forward to an active year ahead to continue to build and develop the economic, social and cultural ties between New Zealand and Taiwan.