Todd Talks By Todd Muller

Prime Minister Bill English has recently announced Trade Agenda 2030 setting out a bold, ambitious and aspirational plan for New Zealand's international trade moving forward.

As the local MP for an equally ambitious and aspirational trading region, the Bay of Plenty, this announcement is music to my ears. I see an opportunity. New Zealand's future rests on being an open, outward-facing nation that embraces the economic opportunities that trade provides with both hands. As much of the world turns inward in the wake of Trump and Brexit, we must push onward to capitalise on new opportunity.

International trade is vital for our economic security and hundreds of thousands of Kiwi jobs depend on us getting it right. We are a small exporting country in the South Pacific, quite isolated geographically from the rest of the world. It is easy to forget this because we punch above our weight. Against the odds, Kiwis have increased our exports of goods and services from $29 billion in 1995 to $70 billion in 2016. Trade Agenda 2030 is the blueprint for us continue this work. The agenda reiterates the Government's commitment to free trade and sets a target of having free trade agreements cover 90 per cent of our goods exported by 2030, up from 53 per cent today.

The scope of this challenge is not lost on me, but we are providing the tools required to achieve our goal with $91.3 million of new funding spent during four years, a new embassy in Dublin and a new High Commission in Sri Lanka, $35 million to support our primary sector exporters to access overseas markets, and a new Clearing House with single online point of contact for exporters encountering trade barriers and requiring support.

We are backing our exporters to thrive, and will support them to translate market access to market success. At the end of the day, trade is about people and relationships. We need to have the right people in-market to help Bay businesses sell our products to the world. The value of people cannot be overstated and I'm very pleased to see positive steps in that direction.