- Hon Todd McClay
Trade Minister Todd McClay will attend the Group of Seven (G7) Trade Ministers meeting in Reggio Calabria, Italy next week. This is the first time New Zealand has been invited to join the event, which will be attended by some of the world’s largest economies and many of New Zealand’s important trading partners.
“As an exporting nation reliant on trade, this is a significant opportunity to boost our economic interests with major global economies,” Mr McClay says.
New Zealand was invited by Italy, the current President of the G7, to attend the outreach session following our success in negotiating the E-Commerce agreement at this year’s WTO Ministerial Trade negotiation in Abu Dhabi.
Minister McClay will represent New Zealand alongside G7 members and a small group of others including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Kenya, South Korea, Türkiye and Viet Nam.
“The Government is relentlessly focused on growing New Zealand’s economy, with an aspirational target of doubling exports by value in ten years. Resilient supply chains, supported by G7 members who account for over 25 percent of global GDP, will play a pivotal role in meeting this goal and ensuring our products make it to market.”
In addition to meeting with counterparts of G7 economies, Mr McClay will also undertake bilateral meetings with the Italian government.
“Italy is our third largest European Union export market with two-way trade totalling NZ$2.22 billion last year. They are a significant market for our high-quality food and fibre accounting for $94.7 million of tanned hides and leather, $28.7 million of wool, and $28.9 million of meat last year,” Mr McClay says.
In an increasingly challenging world, the G7 session provides an opportunity for New Zealand to build our relationships and support the one in four Kiwi jobs that rely on trade.
“We are committed to making sure New Zealand is competitive on the world stage and our exporters are recognised for the high-quality, safe and sustainable exports they produce.”
The G7 is an intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of major advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; the European Union (EU) is also a non-enumerated member.
