Auckland Business Chamber chief Bridges leads 22-strong trade delegation to Sichuan as economic ties deepen

Summary

Simon Bridges, chief executive of the Auckland Business Chamber, former leader of the New Zealand National Party and former Minister of Economic Development, Transport and Communications, is leading a 22-member Auckland business delegation to Sichuan from 7 September. Spanning trade, modern agriculture, clean energy and business services, the group is among the larger and more broadly representative New Zealand trade delegations to visit the province this year. On 8 September, acting on behalf of Zhang Tao, director-general of the Sichuan Foreign Affairs Office, deputy director-general Zhang Yechu met Bridges and his delegation to discuss deepening local friendship ties between Sichuan and New Zealand and expanding practical trade and investment cooperation.

Zhang Yechu noted that President Xi Jinping's meeting with Prime Minister Luxon during his visit to China in June last year had set new strategic direction for China-New Zealand relations, and that Sichuan and New Zealand had made solid progress in high-level exchanges and international sister-city development. The provincial foreign affairs office, working with relevant provincial economic departments and cities and prefectures, mapped out industry complementarities in advance and arranged several targeted trade and business matchmaking sessions. Bridges said New Zealand was the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China, and that the Auckland Business Chamber is ready to push for market openness, build matchmaking platforms and help the Auckland business community deepen exchanges with Sichuan across all fields.

Yang Jian, deputy head of the delegation, chairman of the New Zealand Chinese Business Association and a former MP, said the visit's platform was highly targeted and reached a broad spread of Sichuan companies, and that Chinese businesses would act as a bridge in future engagement. While in Sichuan, the delegation called on Ju Lei, member of the Mianyang Municipal Standing Committee and vice mayor, and vice mayor Zhang Yang, held talks with the Sichuan Provincial Economic Cooperation Bureau, the Sichuan Council for the Promotion of International Trade and relevant departments of Chengdu and Mianyang, took part in four company-specific matchmaking sessions, and visited businesses in Chengdu and Mianyang.

Commentary

Simon Bridges' 22-strong delegation to Sichuan, spanning trade, modern agriculture and clean energy, ranks among the larger New Zealand business groups to visit the province this year. Sichuan is the economic anchor of western China: its GDP topped RMB6 trillion in 2023, its resident population stands at about 83 million, and Chengdu serves as the region's consumption and logistics hub, with China-Europe rail services and a dual-airport system extending reach across southwest China and into Southeast Asia. For New Zealand SMEs dependent on dairy, meat and fruit exports, Sichuan is not a traditional coastal gateway, but the province's early mapping of industry complementarities and its four business matchmaking sessions materially cut the search costs of entering an unfamiliar market.

On the positive side, New Zealand holds differentiated strengths in agricultural technology, grass-fed dairy and geothermal energy, while Sichuan is building modern agricultural parks and a clean energy demonstration province. Their complementarity in seed breeding, food processing and low-carbon technology offers Auckland SMEs concrete entry points, particularly by using the chamber's platform to bypass large traders and reach local buyers directly. The cautious view is that local agricultural players such as New Hope and Tongwei are highly competitive on cost and channels, and acceptance of imported premium food in western China remains concentrated in core cities such as Chengdu, with a long education cycle for lower-tier markets.

Although New Zealand was the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China, dairy and meat quotas and inspection and quarantine procedures still carry uncertainty at the local port level, and SMEs need to assess logistics and compliance costs in full. The delegation's visit to Mianyang Science and Technology City points to a further option: Mianyang's manufacturing strength in electronic information and new materials could open supply-chain cooperation rather than one-way exports. If local-level, targeted matchmaking keeps running, the chamber's platform could become a replicable market-access channel, but whether deals land will depend on follow-up trust-building and contract execution between the companies involved.

Keywords: Auckland Business Chamber, Simon Bridges, Sichuan, trade and economic cooperation, China-New Zealand relations, Auckland business community, Yang Jian, business matchmaking sessions, Mianyang, Sichuan Foreign Affairs Office

Source: Sichuan Foreign Affairs