Simon Bridges National MP simonbridges.co.nz

Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty is full of dedicated and hard-working people. There's so many people who are constantly innovating and creating things which are pushing their industries forward.

Last week I was able to celebrate some of the successes of our businesses at the Bay of Plenty ExportNZ Awards.

We know that Bay of Plenty businesses shine both nationally and internationally and we have hundreds of businesses which export their goods overseas, something which we should celebrate.

The annual Bay of Plenty ExportNZ Awards is the perfect opportunity to do this. It is an event dedicated to showcasing the high flying exporters from our region and the people behind that success.

This was the event's 27th year recognising innovation and success with Dominion Salt taking out the top award, the Sharp Tudhope Lawyers Exporter of the Year.

Other awards winners were: George & Willy, winning the YOU Travel Emerging Exporter of the Year, Steens Honey winning the Page Macrae Engineering Innovation in Export Award, Oasis Engineering winning the Beca Export Achievement Award and Andy Cameron winning the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise Service to Export Award.

I want to congratulate all the award winners and finalists as they play an integral part of keeping Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty moving forward. It is great to be able to celebrate your success with you.

Other Bay exports that need celebrating include Peter Burling. The champion sailor, who hails from Tauranga, has been representing us on the world stage at The America's Cup. It has been great to watch Team New Zealand doing so well and bring the America's Cup back to New Zealand, especially with a local lad at the helm. Well done to Peter and the rest of the team.