As the sectors severely impacted by the COVID epidemic, Education New Zealand and Air New Zealand have been working together around student travel. The two companies announced a strategic partnership at the Shanghai event, hoping to facilitate more Chinese students to study in New Zealand.

Tourism New Zealand and China’s Trip.com Group signed a memorandum of understanding, working together to jointly promote New Zealand as a great destination across Asia-Pacific markets.

“Through the partnership, Tourism New Zealand aims to provide Asia-Pacific travelers with more convenient booking methods, personalized itinerary planning, and comprehensive service support. We look forward to welcoming travelers to deeply explore the beautiful landscapes and unique culture of Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as experience our manaakitanga,” said René de Monchy, Tourism New Zealand’s Chief Executive.

Edison Chen, Vice President of Destination Marketing & Strategy Alliances at Trip.com Group, said,”With the resurgence of international travel post-pandemic, this collaboration could not be better for both parties involved.”

A Chinese tourism industry insider said that the high profile official visit by the prime minister will definitely encourage more Chinese families to tour New Zealand, adding that the earlier a state leader shows good will to China, the more benefits their home country’s economy will enjoy.

During the event, Hipkins highlighted three premium products and service from New Zealand entering the Chinese market as “important milestones that help New Zealand exports to go from volume to value.”

Fonterra, a dairy giant that has been deeply involved in the Chinese market for 50 years, launched high-end cheese Kapiti, trying to meet the ever-growing needs of Chinese consumers. Maui and Zhong Xuegao reached a strategic cooperation, launching a new sheep milk ice cream. Les Mills, a leading fitness brand popular in many countries, has launched “Les Mills China Academy.”

“The China market is incredibly dynamic and is strategically important to Fonterra. As the world changes, Fonterra changes with it, adapting to the evolving needs and desires of our customers and consumers in China,” Peter McBride, Fonterra Chairman said.

Tmall Global, Tmall supermarket, and Fresh hippo are among the Chinese partners promoting New Zealand products.

As part of the visit, Fonterra chefs demonstrated innovative products inspired by the 24 solar terms of the Traditional Chinese Calendar, combining New Zealand’s dairy expertise with Chinese culture and heritage.

China and New Zealand established diplomatic relations in 1972. Fonterra started to set foot in China in the early 1970s. Today, China makes up approximately one-third of Fonterra’s total exports.

The center is a collaboration between Airbus, TARMAC Aerosave and Aerotropolis Xingcheng Group, which is based in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province.

The establishment of the center marks the business scope of Airbus in China through the whole chain of aviation industry.

Honeywell has launched its new SAF process technology and solution in China and valued China’s low-carbon transformation as a key direction, and hope to find better business paths and platforms here.

The company has recently signed multiple memorandums of understanding with local partners to boost SAF technological development and production at various sites across China.

Among them, Honeywell and Tianjin Free Trade Zone have agreed to jointly explore opportunities for SAF production in north China’s Tianjin Municipality, combining the city’s location and industrial advantages with Honeywell’s ready-now technology and equipment.

In September last year, Honeywell announced its cooperation with Zhejiang Jiaao Enprotech Stock Co., Ltd. to build an SAF production facility in Lianyungang City, east China’s Jiangsu Province. The facility will produce SAF by making use of kitchen waste oil and animal fat as the main raw materials.

Compared with traditional fuels, using kitchen waste oil and animal fat as raw materials can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“China provides a suitable place to apply many of our pioneering technologies and solutions, and allows these technical routes to be verified,” Honeywell stated.

Honeywell’s implementation in the Chinese market will also provide a strong reference point for other markets, helping to increase the confidence and impetus of technology application globally.

They hailed their bilateral relations, which have been lifted from a “comprehensive cooperation” to an “ironclad friendship” and a “community of common destiny” underpinned by mutual cooperation.

Xi and Hun Sen pledged to promote the building of a “community of common destiny”, with a focus in six priority areas: politics and diplomacy; textiles and production; agriculture; energy; security; and improvements in the Cambodian health sector as well as people-to-people relations.

Xi voiced support for Cambodia’s stance and policy on its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and expressed interest in agricultural and aquacultural development in the environs of the Tonle Sap Lake.

Hun Sen welcomed Xi’s initiative to establish a “Fish and Rice Corridor” in northwestern Cambodia, commenting that the region was earmarked as an additional “economic pole”.

The prime minister asked the president to encourage more Chinese tourists to fearlessly travel to Cambodia, adding that the leaders agreed to foster cooperation on electricity generation, particularly on projects with an eco-friendly focus.

Hun Sen largely credited Cambodia’s economic recovery to China’s vaccine donations, reflecting on the potential tragedy that may have occurred otherwise, after the Kingdom “reopened” on November 1, with the government moving to allow for the resumption of economic activity.

Hun Sen said Xi “praised China’s special cooperation with Cambodia and vowed to make the relationship even stronger.”

Additionally, the prime minister said, the two nations signed several smaller deals that would see China provide Cambodia with a highway from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh, a clean water initiative, and a bodyguard compound to protect the Council of Ministers in the capital, as well as restore several temples in Cambodia and rebuild its National Route 7, which was damaged in recent floods.

A statement from China’s Foreign Ministry said Xi had called for greater cooperation bilaterally, and increased coordination at the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN)—several member nations of which are embroiled in disputes with China over territorial claims in the South China Sea.

EU TARIFFS

Last week, the EU reintroduced tariffs on rice from Cambodia for three years after a probe found that Cambodian rice imports had nearly doubled since 2013 while prices dropped, hurting local producers. A statement from the European Commission announcing the decision said it had been made separate from deliberations over the EBA scheme.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan has said the rice tariffs will not affect Cambodia, which will encourage exports to alternative markets, such as the Philippines, and will continue to rely on demand in China.

Trade volume between Cambodia and China was valued at U.S. $5.8 billion in 2017, up 22 percent from U.S. $4.76 billion dollars a year earlier, while China is currently Cambodia’s largest investor, and has poured U.S. $12.6 billion into the Southeast Asian nation from 1994 to 2017.

It did not give a specific target for trade, which fell in 2015, only aiming for “a steady rise in import and export volumes” and “a basic balance in international payments”.

It also pledged “further reductions in the release of major pollutants”.

“In setting a projected growth rate of between 6.5% and 7% we have taken into consideration the need to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the need to advance structural reform,” said the speech text, distributed to journalists at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

“It will also help guide market expectations and keep them stable.”

Li’s speech pledged that authorities would make much-needed cuts to overcapacity in the steel, coal, and “other industries facing difficulties”.

The country’s leaders have sought to reassure jittery global markets in recent weeks with a unified message that authorities still have monetary and fiscal policy tools in their arsenal to keep the economy from further slowdown.

The text of the speech projected a government deficit for 2016 of 2.18 trillion yuan, reaching a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3%, which would be the highest since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.

A budget report given to parliament after Li’s speech showed China will raise its defence spending by 7.6%, a smaller increase than past years as it seeks a more efficient military.

It was the “lowest defence budget increase in six years”, adding it came “in the wake of rising economic headwinds and last year’s massive draw-down of service people”.