Ryan Bridge: Are trade missions worth it?

Did you catch the comments yesterday from Malaysia Deputy PM.

He was talking to a kiwi delegation off in KL for ASEAN.

"This will be your new market and we welcome any halal product from New Zealand."

I have always been pretty sceptical about these trade missions, whether they actually achieve something or are just a giant junket.

The truth is their a bit of both. 

On a trip to Vladivostok in Russia back in 2011, our PM got a sit down with Vladimir Putin. 

The guy was late. We waited in the rain for hours. And then he came in in, sat down, spoke in Russian, then had his body guards usher us out of the room. 

He and John Key spoke for about an hour. 

At the time, NZ was trying to cut a free trade deal with Russia - including Belarus and Kazakhstan.

You just don't get that sport of access everyday. Of course, you wouldn't be doing that deal today. We suspended talks in 2014 with Ukraine.

So I grew to accept these meetings actually do achieve something.

Besides, the hotels and accommodation they'd scraped together in a hurry, ahead of the event. So overtime and rushed, the walls in pour provided accommodation wings was still wet with paint, and the lift broke down everyday. 

They're not always glamorous. Great fun all the same. 

But back to the Malaysian Deputy PM. If a Kiwi politician said that to a foreign company wanting to export here. It wouldn't mean much to importers here. 

But there, it's different. If there's anything I learnt about Asia is that's politicians have sway. 

They often control large contracts, have close relationships or control over parts of the economy you wouldn't seen in more western style democracies. 

So when the a leader in a country of 35 million, in a region with 700 million, says something like that. It's probably worth the trip. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Did you see the comments yesterday from Malaysia's deputy prime minister.
If you didn't, he was talking to a Kiwi delegation
often Kuala Olympa for Arsian, this will be your new
market and we welcome any halal product from New Zealand great.
I've always been pretty skeptical about these trade missions, if
I'm being honest with you, whether they actually do anything,

(00:21):
whether they actually achieve anything, or is it one big
giant junket. Truth is they're a little bit of both.
On a trip to Ladder of Ostok and Russia back
in twenty eleven, our Prime minister was in. John Key
got to sit down with Vladimir Putin. Putin turned up late.
The journos were out waiting in the rain for hours.
He came and he sat down, he spoke in Russian

(00:41):
and then he booted us out with his bodyguards. But anyway,
he and Key spoke for about an hour. And at
the time New Zealand was trying to cut a free
trade deal with Russia, including a bunch of other like Blarus, Kazakhstan.
And you don't get that sort of access every day.
Of course, you wouldn't be doing that till a deal today,
and we ended up spending talks with the Russians in

(01:01):
twenty fourteen after they went into Ukraine, so it was
all a waste of time anyway. But I grew to
accept that these meetings actually do achieve something. Besides the
hotels and the accommodation. They're not actually what you think
that might be cracked up to be. The schedules pretty graeling,
and the flight over is a bit crap too. They're
not always glamorous, is the point. Great fun though, back

(01:24):
to the Malaysian Deputy Prime minister. If a Kiwi politician
said that to a foreign company wanting to export here,
for example, it wouldn't mean much to importers here, but
there it's different. There's anything I learned about Asia, it's
that politicians have sway. They often control large contracts, have
close relationships or control over parts of the economy that

(01:46):
you wouldn't see in a more Western style democracy. So
when a leader in a country of thirty five million
people in a region with seven hundred million people says
something like that, probably worth the trip. For more from
early edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news talks
itt B from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast

(02:09):
on iHeartRadio.