New Zealand and France need to move beyond cliches about wine and cheese to revive their long-neglected trade relationship, according to the head of a major French business delegation.
Head of French state-owned rail SNCF Guillaume Pepy this week led a group of top executives from 25 French companies to New Zealand, the first delegation of its type since 1997.
“These companies are seriously thinking about investing in New Zealand,” he said, explaining the 19-year gap between delegations was because “the two countries are a little bit far away from each other.”
Official data puts two-way trade between New Zealand and France at about NZ$1.6 billion (US$1.2 billion) annually.
However, it has been virtually stagnant for the past decade, growing at just 0.6 percent a year.
“We can do much better,” Pepy said. “According to the business leaders [in the delegation to Auckland], we can increase the exchange flows by 50 percent in two or three years.”
While France is a major player in New Zealand’s wine market and there are big partnerships in the dairy industry, Pepy said the delegation was showcasing a broader range of French business offerings.
“We haven’t discussed luxury goods or traditional French cliches,” he said. “We’ve mainly discussed infrastructure modernization, environmental solutions and industrial organization.”
Pepy said French companies offered expertise in areas as diverse as light rail, “green” buildings, financial services and setting up delivery centers.
The delegation had generated positive leads and was a catalyst for regular exchanges, he added.
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