Mr. Andrew King, Mayor of Hamilton,

Mr. David Trewavas, Mayor of Taupo,

Ms. Traci Houpapa, Chairwoman of Landcorp,

Mr. Terry Lee, Managing Director of Theland Farm Group,

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good Morning！

I am very delighted to be part of this beautiful event and first of all I want to thank Pengxin for inviting me and my colleagues to Hamilton, to see so many friends old and new both from New Zealand and China. On behalf of the Chinese Consulate General in Auckland, I would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Pengxin and Landcorp for their great success of their partnership and our appreciation to all the friends present here today for your support to Pengxin and the cooperation between China and New Zealand.

Pengxin’s successful story in New Zealand reflects the fast growing economic and trade ties between China and New Zealand. The bilateral economic and trade relation has maintained a good momentum of growth. China has become New Zealand's largest trading partner. And our two-way trade has been tripled over the past decade, rising from $8.2 billion in 2007 to $23 billion in 2016. China is a very important export market for New Zealand's agriculture products, which accounts for nearly 40% of volume of the total two-way trade.

Along with expansion of bilateral trade, China's investment in New Zealand has grown rapidly. By the end of 2016, China's investment in New Zealand totalled about 6.74 billion US dollars. NZ primary industry is a big attraction for Chinese investment. A number of well-known Chinese companies have invested in New Zealand, including Mengniu, Yili, Pengxin and many others.

At present, we are working for broader bilateral agricultural cooperation. With the joint efforts of both countries, we have made positive progress in this area. During Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to New Zealand in March this year, both sides signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on Trade in Chilled Beef, Goat and Sheep Meat, and Memorandum of Cooperation for the Export of Onions from China to New Zealand. At the same time, the leaders of our two countries also put forward a 1+3 win-win cooperation initiative between China and New Zealand. 1 means building ‘one’ highest standard free trade zone, and 3 means fostering ‘three areas’ of cooperation-including strategic connectivity, innovation oriented cooperation and primary industry. This 1+3 cooperation initiative goes very much in line with One Belt One Road Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping.

Two days ago, the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing attracted world wide attention and turned out to be very successful. It achieved more than 270 tangible results covering all fields of policy coordination, trade and investment, infrastructure, financing, culture and education. Mr. Paul Goldsmith, Minister for Science and Innovation was leading the NZ delegation to this forum.

New Zealand has always been at the forefront in developing co-operations with China among Western countries. With regard to ‘One Belt, One Road’, New Zealand has been a pioneer as well. It was the first Western country to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and also the first Western country to sign a cooperation agreement with China on the ‘One Belt, One Road’. We appreciate this pioneering spirit of New Zealand. This ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative features five connectivities including policy, infrastructure, finance, trade and people to people. Actually we have been enjoying early harvest in this win-win construction with New Zealand. Taking trade and air connection for example, 150 flights are coming back and forth from major cities of China to Auckland each week. Last year, more than 400 thousand travellers came to New Zealand. According to the statistics provided by Auckland airport, each and every airline from China could generate as much as 160 million U.S. dollars benefits to New Zealand. Thanks to the rapid air cargo transportation, fresh milk produced by Pengxin here is able to reach the table of Shanghai’ residence the early next morning.

The economies of China and New Zealand are highly complementary with each other. In the future, the agriculture cooperation between our two countries has great potential. With the rapid development of China's economy and the improvement of Chinese people’s living standards, the requirement for food, both in quantity and quality, will continue to grow, which will provide New Zealand with more opportunities to export high quality beef, mutton, dairy products, and wine to China. Both sides should go beyond the simple trade relationship, but strive to establish the whole industry chain cooperation, including investment, research, management, food safety, etc. Through our joint efforts, I believe the economic cooperation between our two countries will enjoy better future and will surely push China-New Zealand comprehensive strategic partnership to a new high.

Thank you!