ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard welcomes the Government’s announcement of more assistance for exporters, in particular the increased resources to be based in the China, South America and the Middle East region. The important thing about this mix is the geographic spread so we are not overly concentrated in one part of the world.

“Feedback we have had from our most recent annual exporters survey which we shared with the Government, indicated exporters wanted more export market development assistance. So having more in-market resources in the geographic areas of big trade opportunities will be most welcome.

“In addition, we are pleased the Government has expanded the number of companies it will work with more intensively, with tailored support increasing from 500 to 700 companies. Those companies that get the tailored support rate it pretty highly, and the bigger we can make that group the better.

“ExportNZ has also been an advocate of offering courses like ‘Better By Design’ to a bigger range of companies, so we hope this will be part of the package. The way our companies will be able to compete globally in a high exchange rate environment is by being the best in class, and that includes differentiating from the competition through innovation and design. Even the smallest start-up companies can embrace design and innovation, so we welcome the extension of these sorts of programmes.

“If we want to meet the target of lifting export performance to 40% of GDP and build bigger export companies of scale that no longer need Government assistance, these sorts of investments are important and will need to be built on further in future years.”

Contact: Catherine Beard 027 463 3212 or Stephanie Moakes 021 959831<.p>

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