Inside US Trade is predicting the race for the WTO Director-General”s job is narrowing to an Indonesia-Brazil showdown.  As I noted in my column in the NZ Herald last week the key contest in the second “sudden death” round is between Groser, Brazil”s WTO ambassador Roberto Calvalho de Azevedo (reported as having an edge in diplomatic circles) and Indonesia”s former …

Prime Minister John was on-cue, on-message and importantly on-time using his six minutes in front of Chinese President Xi Jinping to send a message that New Zealand is a committed partner to China and has much to offer in areas where the two countries complement each other. It’s five years ago to the day since NZ signed the bilateral free …

Key’s visit initiative will have a tremendous impact on forestry. Especially if supported by positive follow up action from NZ bureaucrats in tariff reduction.  This will certainly boost lumber exports, a reprieve from the death sentence for the kiwi saw mills and thousands of jobs in our heartlands. The other major thrust required is to remove non tariff trade barriers …

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The world’s largest utility operation – State Grid Corporation of China – is reportedly eyeing a 42 per cent stake in NZ”s second-largest electricity and gas distribution company Powerco. The stake is said to be worth more than $450m. Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing – whose company owns Wellington Electricity Lines  – walked away from a proposed bid early …

Tim Groser will make a strong – but indirect – plug for the right person to be appointed to the top job in global trade when he heads to Surabaya, Indonesia tomorrow for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Trade Ministers’ meeting. Groser’s message is – “It is crucial to the success of the WTO’s mission that its members choose a …

Dame Jenny Shipley will stand down as a director of one of China’s most powerful banks at the forth-coming AGM – one of three independent non-executive directors who are retiring by rotation from the board at the shareholders’ annual meeting. The others are  Joseph Yam Chi Kwong  and  Wong Kai-Man. Dame Jenny was first appointed as a CCB director in …

Cofco chairman Frank Ning was one of the star performers at the inaugural New Zealand China Partnership Forum in Beijing last Friday. Ning has thought long and hard about Cofco’s relationship with food-producing nations like New Zealand. I’ll be writing more about this in coming days. Meantime this Bloomberg clip gives an indication into Ning’s thinking.

Prime Minister John Key arrived back in New Zealand from Beijing with a strong message ringing in his ears that China Inc wants to step up the pace and take the bilateral economic partnership to the next stage. It was a good week for Key. Not only have senior Chinese accepted the essential value proposition of New Zealand to China (which …

TV3’s Paddy Gower scooped the pix for the Gillard kiss (double-cheeks if you have to know) after John Key swept down the staircase at the Boao Sofitel hotel straight into the Australian Prime Minister’s open-armed greeting. The photo-op had been careful stage-managed by Julia Gillard’s PR who officiously told the NZ journalist delegation accompanying the PM to the prestigious Boao …