Africa Has Great Trade Potential for NZ

New Zealand exporters should be seriously considering Southern African countries as a trade destination, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Don McKinnon, said today.

Mr McKinnon has just visited Zambia and Zimbabwe and is currently in South Africa.

In Zambia Mr McKinnon held discussions with President Chiluba and in Zimbabwe he met with President Mugabe. He has also held talks with senior Trade and Foreign Ministers from both countries on trade, aid, regional security, human rights and the Commonwealth.

"With high trade barriers and unfamiliar markets Africa is a challenging environment for exporters," Mr McKinnon said.

"But the continent offers huge potential and real opportunities - especially in the southern cone. The rewards are there."

Mr McKinnon said that in particular the prospects for New Zealand's agri-tech products and know-how are positive.

'In a far flung corner of rural Zimbabwe I spotted some good kiwi fencing technology. There is still much arable land in Southern Africa which has yet to be cultivated and developed so there's room for selling our agricultural know-how on a much bigger scale.

"Everyone in Zimbabwe knows about New Zealand and cricket. We need them to know as much about our dairy products, our refrigerators and our tourist destinations."

Mr McKinnon said while some New Zealand companies have a foot in the door of the Southern African markets, we really need to put more effort in. "Some of our trading rivals are doing extremely well here. We have to catch up."

While in South Africa, Mr McKinnon will hold bilateral talks and visit Soweto.

On Tuesday and Wednesday he travels to Botswana and Mozambique. He returns to New Zealand on 14 March.