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Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully will hold official talks with his counterpart from Burma (Myanmar), Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, on Monday. Mr Lwin is visiting New Zealand as part of his country’s increasing international engagement since embarking on fundamental political and economic reforms a year ago. “New Zealand is greatly encouraged by the nature and scale of the reforms …

The National Party-led government has gained support from an unlikely quarter, with one of US president Barack Obama’s former top economic advisers, Peter Orszag, saying New Zealand is “the only country” implementing a balanced mix of stimulus and austerity policies. “For most countries it’s better to combine deficit reduction that you put in place now but that takes effect over …

New Zealand companies and organisations are well aware of risk management strategies and approaches, but for many it is just a box ticking exercise rather than a core management function. Murray Chandler, partner for accounting and advisory firm Grant Thornton, said that this was one of the findings from the latest Grant Thornton New Zealand Business Risk Survey: Delivering value …

Is Fonterra’s Sir Henry van der Heyden staying on past his use-by date as the dairy co-operative’s chairman to protect chairman-elect John Wilson from a boardroom coup? That question was doing the rounds even before Fonterra confirmed on September 27 that van der Heyden would not step down from the board as expected this December when he hands over the …

Iwi groups yet to complete their Treaty settlements will be offered the opportunity to participate in the Government share offer programme, Finance Minister Bill English and Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson say. “This is a result of our constructive engagement with Iwi leaders and their technical advisers,” the ministers say. “It is another example of how direct engagement with the …

The Supreme Court has rejected a bid by two North Island iwis to overturn Shanghai Pengxin’s successful bid for the Crafar farms. The court’s decision to reject the iwi’s appeal against the recent Court of Appeal’s judgment upholding Shanghai Pengxin as having the requisite business acumen and experience to run the dairy farm business is good news for all other …

New Zealand and China Customs have agreed to work more closely together to combat the smuggling of pharmaceutical products used to manufacture methamphetamine (‘P’). The agreement is the result of talks between Chinese officials and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson during a two-day visit by China Customs. The two customs administrations are also committed to continuing work to advance further growth …

A LULL IN THE STORM, OR RECOVERY ON THE WAY? There was a swathe of data overnight from both the US and Europe with most of it either surprising on the upside, or in line with market expectations. However, most of the indicators are still at very low levels begging the question whether it is a lull in the storm, or …

The New Zealand Venture Investment Fund and Taiwan’s National Development Fund have agreed a co- investment partnership which could invest up to $200 million  into venture capital funds in the two countries. Under the partnership, NZVIF and NDF will invest up to $25 million each into new venture capital funds in New Zealand and Taiwan. The venture capital fund managers …

Ritchie McCaw goes into the All Black changing room to find all his team mates looking a bit down. “What’s up guys?” he asks. “Well Ritchie, to be honest we’re having all sorts of trouble getting motivated for this game against Australia . We know it’s important but we’ve just beaten Argentina and South Africa in consecutive weeks and, let’s …