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Prime Minister John Key today outlined the Government’s next steps to prepare Mighty River Power for its partial sale in the first half of 2013. “I’m pleased to announce today Cabinet made three decisions regarding our shares sales programme,” said Key in a post-Cabinet press statement.  “First, the Government will not implement the Waitangi Tribunal’s ‘shares plus’ concept, or engage …

Hawke’s Bay deer farmers and Federated Farmers members, Tim Aitken and Lucy Robertshawe, are Marks & Spencer 2012 Farming for the Future Champion of Champions. “Marks & Spencer is a globally recognised brand which epitomises quality and environmental sustainability.  This is huge for us, for the FirstLight Foods group which sells our product to Marks & Spencer, our industry and …

Green Party co-leader Dr Russell Norman wants the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to launch quantitative easing to lower the value of the New Zealand Dollar. Dr Norman writes “Since the Global Financial Crisis, our major trading partners have engaged in large scale measures that have devalued their currencies” and that “The UK, USA, Japan and the European Union have …

The New Zealand dollar gained after exports to China, the country’s second-biggest trading partner, rose at the fastest pace in three months in September, easing concerns that the global economy is heading for another worldwide slowdown. The New Zealand dollar rose as high as 81.88 US cents and traded at 81.75 cents just after 8am, up from 81.60 cents at …

Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Steven Joyce is leading a delegation to India to lift  New Zealand’s profile as a destination for international students and to support NZ tertiary institutions and companies seeking to grow their business in the Indian market. “India is New Zealand’s third largest source of international students with 12,358 students enrolled in courses in …

Auckland Mayor Len Brown says Korea is a major opportunity for export-focused Auckland businesses and wants Auckland to look to Korea as an example of successful strategic economic development. Len Brown is leading 17 Auckland businesses on a trade mission to Korea and Taiwan. In Korea, the delegation visited Auckland’s partner cities of Busan and Pohang, and the economic powerhouse, …

Trade Minister Minister Tim Groser is playing down expectations that he will have a tilt at the top job in global trade. But it is inevitable that the potential for a Groser run at the role of director-general of the World Trade Organisation will be discussed around the edges of the World Export Development Forum (WDEF) in Jakarta this coming …

Security expert, Paul Buchanan, is calling for greater oversight and accountability of New Zealand’s intelligence agencies. Speaking on TV3’s The Nation this weekend, Mr Buchanan said the GCSB’s assurances that Huawei posed no threat to national security was another example of its incompetency. “If you were to ask me a month ago if I would take the GCSB’s word at …

The United States attack on Chinese telecommunications company Huawei shapes up like a declaration of economic warfare complete with buckets of political rhetoric and China bashing. Cynics might think a presidential election is looming. In just one month, the US has taken China to the World Trade Organisation claiming the Chinese subsidise their car industry and has blocked a Chinese …

Foreign Minister Murray McCully is off to Indonesia for bilateral talks, and to attend the Bali bombing 10th anniversary commemorations.   In Jakarta, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa will host McCully for the 5th annual Indonesia-New Zealand Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC).   “Building on the momentum created by the Prime Minister’s visit to Jakarta in April, we will discuss developments in agriculture …