Warm greetings to you all.

Since taking up responsibility for bioprospecting policy as Associate Minister for Energy and Resources I have been following the work that you have been doing as members of the bioprospecting working groups and am delighted to have this opportunity to meet you all.

As a Minister named Pansy who was elected as the MP for Botany - some might say that my green-field involvement with bioprospecting policy was meant to be!

It has been a fascinating experience learning the field of bioprospecting and I appreciate the need to have a smart and robust system in place to keep track of our bio-resources and the knowledge we hold about our native materials.

I am accustomed to the unwavering belief of Chinese in the effectiveness of traditional Chinese herbal medicine to soothe and heal.

In the last two decades, there has been a significant increase in the usage of Chinese herbal medicines in the West, with many people discovering the many healing qualities that can be found in bio-resources.

As a child growing up in Hong Kong, I was surrounded by Western medicine because it was the world leader in the field of health and most of the world accepted the effectiveness of Western medicine.

But there has been a shift in the winds in terms of the way people treat their illnesses and live their lifestyles and the global population's drift towards natural remedies and organic food have made the world's bio-resources extremely valuable.

There is a Chinese New Zealander scientist, who came from a family in China with many generations involved in researching mushrooms.

This scientist, like Chinese in general, are fully aware of the medicinal value of Lingzhi, a species of the mushroom family.

Lingzhi is known to be a cure for many illnesses, for centuries, but the problem was that you had to consume a lot of it to feel any benefit.

While in New Zealand, the scientist pioneered a unique low heat extraction technique that could turn the medicinal value of Lingzhi into capsule form, which is nowadays sold in markets throughout Asia, including China, Korea and Vietnam.

So far, similar types of Linzi that grow here in New Zealand have not been found to be the same as those grown in China.

We all know that research into bio resources is unravelling new discoveries all the time and no one knows what lies ahead.

Maybe one day we may find out more about our natural and native bio-species and discover that something that grows plentiful in gardens all over the nation has medicinal value.

It is important that we have the appropriate systems and policies in place to ensure that these resources and the knowledge behind them are protected.

With New Zealand's vast and plentiful selection of native trees, plants, bushes and other natural resources it makes sense for us to gather knowledge about species and to keep track of the accessing and use of our bio-resources so we can protect them for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

A lot of the knowledge and understanding of New Zealand's bio-resources is within our Iwi and the greater Maori community and it is often through kaumatua and whanau passing on traditional knowledge orally to their tamariki that these traditions are kept alive.

Just like Chinese medicine, traditional Maori knowledge has been passed down through generations and have often only been used by those who have had that knowledge passed on to them either orally or written.

For centuries, the values of Chinese Medicine were only appreciated by Chinese because they had not been documented properly or backed up by any rigorous testings.

This is partly due to the lack of protection of the know how surrounding these remedies, whereas Western medicine have been protected by patents and copyright laws, which has attracted investors to fund proper research.

It is important that we invest time and resources into the process of examination to ensure that New Zealand's bio-resources can be developed and utilised for the good of our nation.

Our Maori community rightly should play a proactive role in the bioprospecting policy and system and we must ensure that traditional knowledge is respected, shared and protected.

Of course you will all be aware that we are also awaiting the report of the Wai 262 claim and we look forward to the clarification of rights and process.

None-the-less, it is important that New Zealand has a system in place to protect the knowledge that our Tangata Whenua hold and that the right people benefit from any commercial use of New Zealand's natural resources.

Our beaches, valleys, lakes and mountains and all the many things that live and grow on, in and around them are very important to New Zealand and they may also hold value both domestically and internationally.

For New Zealand to prosper, we must have policy, initiatives and systems in place to ensure that everything that we hold dear as New Zealanders is both protected and promoted while at the same time people's interests are protected if something is found to have a commercial value.

Already a number of overseas companies have expressed an interest in bioprospecting in New Zealand and we hear anecdotally that some are already undertaking activities.

It is imperative that we set out clear rules as to how the resources are accessed and how any resulting benefits are shared among the interested parties.

That is why conferences like this are important, because we have all the best people in the bioprospecting field gathered to discuss ways to set up a system that will ensure the best possible outcome for the whole of New Zealand.

I have read the notes from working group discussions you have had in the past and I share your passion for putting a system in place that will look after New Zealand's needs domestically and the activities of New Zealand firms internationally.

I am committed to working with you to ensure that we find the right management system and that the system addresses the needs and concerns of all New Zealanders.

The Ministry of Economic Development bioprospecting team and I have found your input to the evolution of policy invaluable and we will continue to seek your opinion and input to ensure that the conversation continues.

We will be looking for your views and experience on what is needed from a New Zealand bioprospecting system and how you and the organisations you work with or the iwi you belong to see yourselves in that system.

This is not going to be a quick process, but I am heartened in the knowledge that much work has already be done in this field.

New Zealand already has an excellent foundation on which to build a bioprospecting regime and now we must ensure that whatever we put in place enables appropriate access to our biological resources, the understanding of our unique environment and protecting it as a taonga) for all.

For New Zealand to move forward in this area, we must flesh out the details of how a domestic system would function so that we are not limited by the international regime.

In the coming months the Ministry will be commissioning work to assess the current scale of bioprospecting activity in New Zealand and we want to be sure that we have engaged as widely as possible on this important issue. We are looking to you to tell us who we need to be talking to.

The Ministry will be looking to set up a parent working group to oversee this engagement and your nominations for this group are being sought. I am looking forward to receiving a detailed summary of today's events from the Ministry's bioprospecting team.

I am excited to be involved in bioprospecting policy at this crucial stage in its development and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for devoting your time to this issue.

I look forward to engaging further with you all in the future.

Thank you.