Todd Talks By Todd Muller

This month the Port of Tauranga has set a record, processing more than one million shipping containers in one year – the first port in New Zealand to reach the milestone.

By volume we now boast the largest port in the country, with 41 per cent of New Zealand's total exports by value flowing through our city with products ranging from meat, dairy and fruit to pulp, paper and Linea board.

This has a hugely positive impact on our city and wider region with more than 2000 people working at the port at any one time, and enormous flow-on effects for a number of industries. The port's success is a testament to what can be achieved when business and government, both central and local, work together in partnership.

Our best days are very much still ahead of us with the Port of Tauranga investing $350 million in infrastructure to handle larger ships, primary exports forecast to hit an all-time high of $41.6 billion in the year to June 2018, and a government that is 100 per cent committed to negotiate favourable trade terms and access to new markets.

Trade Agenda 2030 aims to have 90 per cent of our goods exports covered by free trade agreements (FTAs) by 2030. Things are already in full swing with the signing this month of the PACER Plus agreement, ushering in a new era of closer economic relations with many of our Pacific neighbours, and the 11 remaining Trans-Pacific Partnership countries agreeing in May to revive the deal without United States participation following President Trump's withdrawal (TPP-11).

Todd Muller

MP for Bay of Plenty