Select members of the local business community will be heading to Seoul this week to meet their counterparts, in a bid to boost Korean business interest in New Zealand ahead of the government’s free trade negotiations.

The roundtable discussions have been organised by the New Zealand International Business Forum in conjuction with the Korean International Trade Association, and will run over 9-10 June.

NZIBF executive director Stephen Jacobi is taking a select list of 33 New Zealanders and 36 Koreans to the invitation-only event, which will look at how the high-tech Korean economy and New Zealand’s green-tech economies can complement each other in the future.

Mr Jacobi says it’s a key event to help Korean businesses co-operate more closely in the areas of trade and investment, green growth and information and communications technology, as well as contribution the FTA could make to economic recovery and regional trade liberalisation.

Trade Minister Tim Groser will be attending, along with representatives from Auckland University, ASB Bank, Fonterra, Meat and Wool New Zealand, NZ Chambers of Commerce, Pike River Coal, PF Olsen, Sanford and Zespri.

Several major Korean businesses will also be represented, including Hyundai and Samsung and various business and political groups.

Bodies such as New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) will also be attending, as will its counterpart the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

Mr Groser and his counterpart Korean trade minister Kim Jong Hoon will deliver key note addresses at the Roundtable, and will be flanked by representatives from Customs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and NZ Trade and Enterprise.  

So far the response has been extremely positive, says Mr Jacobi, and is expecting that the roundtable discussions should assist the FTA process in moving forward, as well as slotting into the wider scheme of the AANZFTA (Australia-ASEAN-New Zealand Free trade agreement)