Jacinda Ardern has announced plans for her first trade trip since Covid-19 hit – but exporters are warning they also need to be able to travel overseas soon if they are to maintain business relationships and build new ones
Delivering a pre-Budget speech to Business NZ on Thursday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was time "to move towards reconnecting our people to the world" - including the world of business.
"We need to keep sending the message that New Zealand continues to be a great place to do business," Ardern said, announcing a June trade trip to Brussels and London by Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O'Connor and a trade delegation of her own to Australia in July.
But some business owners, like Hamish McCourtie, argue the Government needs to be doing more to ensure they can also head offshore. McCourtie is the owner of James McCourtie Textiles, an export-orientated company based in New Zealand with operations in China and joint ventures in the United States and Europe.
Speaking to Newsroom, McCourtie said the ability to circumnavigate the globe had been critical to his company’s success in over 30 years of existence. He and other business owners needed to be able to travel overseas to check on their operations and forge new connections in a way that could not be easily done online.
“Fundamentally, trade and exports and business between countries and organisations is a personalised thing – there’s only so much you can do through Zoom.”
The rest of the world was beginning to open up borders as vaccinations rolled out, with a risk that overseas competitors would mobilise more swiftly and take commercial advantage from their ability to travel.
“We’re relying on our exports - it’s a bit like the old one-legged seagull, there’s a lot on top but there’s just one thing at the bottom holding it all together.”
McCourtie said government officials had confirmed to him there was no economic component to the “national significance” category for early access to the Covid-19 vaccine, despite the importance of trade and exports to the country’s economic wellbeing with tourism and other domestic sectors still dampened.
“We’re relying on our exports - it’s a bit like the old one-legged seagull, there’s a lot on top but there’s just one thing at the bottom holding it all together.”
It was not about jumping ahead of vulnerable populations within New Zealand, but supporting them through offshore trade which would grow tax revenue.
“If we’re going to have a battle or war against Covid as they say, you’ve got to have multiple fronts.”
ExportNZ executive director Catherine Beard said exporters had managed to maintain existing relationships through virtual platforms, but it was increasingly important for them to have the face-to-face interactions required to develop new business overseas.
Her organisation was not advocating for “carte blanche” access for business travellers, but offshore travel was particularly vital for manufacturers exporting heavy machinery and other equipment which required on-site installation, Beard said.
“When it’s really complex equipment, customers are saying, ‘You need to send over some technical experts’, and that’s been quite stressful for companies because they don’t want to send over people without vaccines ... it could be the make or break for some businesses.”
“People understand that right now, those who are most vulnerable are getting the priority, that's fine, but July is not that far away and actually businesses want to understand, what's the rules going to be when it's a wider availability? How do I get the vaccine, but more critically, what are the rules going to be around where I can travel?"
Trade officials had been very supportive and were advocating for businesses, but it was political decisions which ultimately set the agenda.
“The thing that can be a little bit frustrating for exporters is that they see sportspeople being elevated in terms of importance, and yet we’re supposed to have an export-led recovery.”
NZ International Business Forum executive director Stephen Jacobi said the need for exporters to travel was becoming more acute as time went by.
Singapore had set up reciprocal “green lanes” for business travellers from certain countries, and Jacobi said there had been discussions within the APEC Business Advisory Council about whether a ‘trusted travellers’ service for APEC economies could be established to recognise other nations’ vaccinations and allow travel without quarantine.
National Party trade and export growth spokesman Todd Muller told Newsroom he understood the frustration of some exporters, given the critical importance of access to overseas markets.
“People understand that right now, those who are most vulnerable are getting the priority, that's fine, but July is not that far away and actually businesses want to understand, what's the rules going to be when it's a wider availability? How do I get the vaccine, but more critically, what are the rules going to be around where I can travel?...
“The fact that there just seems to be no clarity at all from the Government around what that looks like, no surety, no ability to plan, everyone’s just just throwing their arms up in exasperation.”
Muller said his concern was not with how the Government had prioritised the vaccine rollout, but its slow speed and the lack of guidelines at present for vaccinated travellers.
“Everything was too slow and too pedestrian and as you've seen, the businesses themselves are getting extremely anxious that we are going to end up coming second in this great sort of race for global commerce.”
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor said the Government had put a significant amount of funding into helping businesses remain connected in the market virtually, but the country was not in a position “to open the door and allow that wholesale travel”.
“We're working with them, we're mindful of the pressure on them, but we have to work through a systematic process here.”
O’Connor said providing early vaccine access for exporters undertaking high-value trips was “one of the things under consideration”, although establishing such a threshold in place could prove subjective.
“There are a lot of people in New Zealand with good business connections around the world, I think they've done a very good job in the virtual sense.
“We've been helping them with that and will certainly encourage them to travel when it's safe to do so and when they can be effective offshore - you have to remember that it's not easy just to meet everyone offshore, so it might be a very expensive trip for what might be a very short meeting process.”
