Lawrence Meredith: EU Ambassador to New Zealand comments on high-level business summit between NZ and EU

Auckland's playing host to a landmark business summit between New Zealand and the European Union.

Minister of Trade and Investment Todd McClay will meet with senior European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and 400 top business and political leaders.

It's the first high-level business summit between New Zealand and the EU.

EU Ambassador to New Zealand, Lawrence Meredith says there are plenty of meaty issues on the table.

He says Agritech is definitely on the agenda, along with infrastructure.

Meredith says they'll also discuss investment in areas like clean tech, deep tech and AI, and aerospace and defence.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So flagship mom, and I guess you could say in
our relationship with the European Union. Today we've got EU
officials in the country meeting with our political and business
leaders for the first of a joint business summit. Now
the focus is on maximizing our FDA strengthening bilateral tires.
Lawrence Meredith is the EU ambassador to this country and
is with us. Lawrence, morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good morning mate. Great to be back on the shriff.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Given our relationship. This is sort of odd that we
haven't done this before, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, we've just got a new free trade agreement, been
in fourth almost eighteen months, so we thought this was
the best opportunity to turbo burst it.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Your sints of that agreement and what's changed materially from
the EU's point of.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
View, Well, I think it's a big change because, as
you know, in a moment of trade turbulence, their opinion
has actually taken trade tariffs off trade with New Zealand,
and that's been a big boost for New Zealand exporters,
with an extra billion dollars in the first twelve months.
That's twenty eight percent up.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Do you see it? I mean, I look at the
China Deal as one of the original free trade deals,
of course, and that has grown with this country exponentially
over the years. Do you have high expectations of major
growth between US and the EU?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yes? Absolutely, and that's why we're having this summit and
we're going to be looking at five big issues. Of
course the agri agri tech piece, but also infrastructure building,
other Prime Minister's infrastructure investments some in March, and investing
in innovation in areas like clean tech, deep tech in
AI and also aerospace and defense, which are phenomenal here
in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
How on the radar is a place like New Zealand
for a place like the EU.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, it's a really high up because if you look
at President vonder Lyon's political guidelines when she came into office,
it's one of only four trusted partners namechecked along with Australia,
Japan and Career. So definitely on our radar.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Good at tangibles coming out of this or is this
just to get together and you know, let's see how
it goes.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
No, absolutely, and you'll have seen that there's a big deal.
We've got Nile Brown from Dawn meets in Ireland coming
across US fresh from investing in Alliance, so this and
we've got the infrastructure giants of Vans and We Build
and also Bestic Whatpack who are building the christ Church Stadium.
So we've got some big players over from Europe.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Good stuff. Enjoy yourself, Appreciate it very much, Lawrence Meredith,
who's the EU investador to this particular country.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
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