Brace for headwinds - O'Connor

“We’re focused on supporting our exporters and in particular our primary industries to adapt as issues like climate change challenge all economies,” he says.

“We will also continue to work with likeminded partners to reform the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which will provide stability and benefit for all members.”

He made the comments last week while leaving for a series of high-powered trade meetings in Europe.

O’Connor was in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum and associated WTO meetings in Davos, before travelling to Berlin for the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture and meetings with German government and industry leaders.

The World Economic Forum brings together civil society, business and political leaders annually to discuss some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

This year’s theme was ‘Cooperation in a Fragmented World’.

O’Connor says the theme resonated for New Zealand especially as we continue to reconnect with the world following the pandemic.

At the forum O’Connor participated in a panel on indigenous trade, highlighting New Zealand’s Trade for All agenda. He also held bilateral meetings with trade counterparts, attended a Swiss-hosted WTO mini-ministerial meeting and a Canada-hosted “Ottawa Group” session on WTO reform.

“An area of particular priority to New Zealand is the return to a well-functioning dispute settlement system as a critical and foundational pillar of the WTO.

“The Ottawa Group meeting presents the opportunity to discuss how we work towards this goal with our partners,” he says.

O’Connor said the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture provides a platform to showcase New Zealand’s global leadership and innovation in sustainable agriculture.

Both meetings will provide important opportunities to lobby for the ratification of the EU-NZ Free Trade Agreement as well as for New Zealand’s candidate for Director General of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), Dr John Barker.

O’Connor returns this week.