Prime Minister's Luncheon
"Competitive Economy"
@
 Plaza Athenee 11:30am

 

Dear Members,

For those of you who attended the NZI Black & White Ball I am sure you will agree it was a huge success. Many thanks to all our sponsors for their support and to the committees of both the New Zealand Society and NZTCC for all their hard work. I would also like to thank Doug Edwards and the Kapa Haka group for their excellent performance.

It is with sadness we say farewell to Karlene Davis, Trade Commissioner for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise in Bangkok who is off to Brazil to take up a new post. This new posting is a well earned promotion for Karlene and we wish her well. NZTE are currently interviewing for her replacement but it might be a few months before he/she is on board.

As ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) looms in 2015, many government departments are beginning to understand the implications to Thailand. There is also a realisation that for Thailand to grow it must be more competitive. The regular meetings with Thailand Trade Representative (TTR) are facilitating communications with the government by bringing together the appropriate departments to discuss key issues. The JFCCT committees are also doing some excellent work reviewing key issues raised by members and developing recommendations that can be presented to government departments. All of these factors are helping to drive change; not as quickly or far reaching as many of us would like, but still heading slowly in the right direction.

At a recent meeting with the TTR, the President, H.E. Kiat Sitheeamorn, quite rightly stated that AEC represented some exciting new opportunities but there are going to be a lot of challenges ahead to take advantage of them. There are many complex issues. All the studies so far indicate that there must be a huge investment in infrastructure for AEC to work. There also needs to be recognition of the differing levels of development of member countries. It’s important for all of us to stay current on AEC developments and prepare for the opportunities it potentially represents.

Our first joint SME event for 2011 will be held on Wednesday 23rd February not the 10th as previously stated and will be a lunch meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. We have two excellent speakers in Andrew Biggs and Steve Booth who will be sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience on Recruitment, Training and Retention.

This month our Corporate Knight will be on the 24th February at the Sheraton Grande and is sponsored by Royal Prestige Wines; many thanks to Tommy Westbury and his team. Royal Prestige Wines have been strong supporters of the Chamber and are the suppliers of the excellent wines we all enjoy at our Corporate Knights. This month they will be bringing along a selection of wines to taste and will be taking orders for home delivery. 

We look forward to seeing you all at the Crowne Plaza on 23rd and the Sheraton on the 24th.

Kind regards,

Kindly sponsored by

   

Some recent Kiwi Snippets and Kiwis in the news:

Benji Marshall, the Kiwis playmaker has been chosen as the man to front the NRL as Australian Rugy League  prepares for a new era under an independent commission,
Benji  is already cashing in on his poster-boy status. Benji Inc is booming, with the Golden Boot winner's off-field earnings estimated to hit $A500,000 for 2011 – more than any other league player.

Sunshine  to give a helping hand to Aussie Flood victims 
A group representing the newly crowned sunshine capital, Whakatane, with more than 2000 cans of sunshine to give away to raise money for flood-stricken Brisbane.
Whakatane's status as New Zealand's sunshine capital was confirmed by the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research on January 12 with a total of 2561 hours of sunshine in 2010.
The Eastern Bay of Plenty economic agency, Toi-EDA, said  they decided that 2561 "hours" of Whakatane sunshine would be captured, canned and originally were to be  sent to the Marlborough and Nelson regions – the runners-up in the sunshine race.
After  the initial idea was hatched, they decided, based the utter devastation that has rocked Brisbane to its core, to use the sunshine to raise funds for flood victims

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard recently said the recovery is expected to pick up, but a wide range of scenarios could impact upon the NZ economy in the year ahead.

Speaking to the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce Dr Bollard said the behaviour of people and businesses had changed significantly since the Global Financial Crisis, making economic forecasting particularly difficult.

“We have little from history to guide us about how enduring or deep these changes may be. In addition, the recovery has been rocky and fragile,” he said.

Dr Bollard described the Global Financial Crisis as “a deep and damaging event”.

“Even in New Zealand where we have been less affected, recovery has been slow and patchy. In fact 2010 was a disappointing year: we initially saw recovery happening, but the second half went unexpectedly soft (as it did in many OECD countries). During 2011 we expect the recovery to pick up and gradually become more secure.”

Dr Bollard said several international dynamics could impact on people and businesses in the year ahead, including further economic “gloom” in the US. However, it was just as possible the US could surprise us with economic strength in 2011, he said.

“In this scenario, the US dollar would presumably appreciate, taking some pressure off the New Zealand dollar and providing an improved opportunity to rebalance our economy towards export growth,” Dr Bollard said.

Other international risks included sovereign debt reaching crisis point, emerging markets over-heating and an intensification of the commodity boom.

“New Zealand farmers are still recovering from the last commodity boom when some over-committed, and are still looking to reduce the debt they built up. A more measured reaction this time is important,” Dr Bollard said.

However, he believed New Zealand was well placed to benefit from some of these changes through 2011, but warned a continued escalation of oil prices would cause world growth to suffer again, as well as adding inflationary pressure globally.

Closer to home, Dr Bollard said domestic risks with the potential to derail the Bank’s forecasts included further fragility in the financial markets and New Zealanders continuing to save and not spend – beyond what might be expected after a marked recession.

“This would cast a pall of gloom over the market, with homeowners keeping houses off the market, not re-building and trying to pay off mortgages faster, saving more, and spending less. The construction and retail sectors would suffer as a result,” Dr Bollard said.

However, the positive side of this was an acceleration of New Zealand’s much discussed rebalancing, reducing the current account deficit, improving competitiveness, reducing exchange rate pressure, relieving pressure on funding markets, and reducing our external vulnerability generally.

Dr Bollard said a potential positive factor for New Zealand businesses was a construction boom, driven by reconstruction following the Christchurch earthquake and relatively strong inward migration.

The Rugby World Cup also had the potential to affect forecasts in a positive way.

“We think the event will add about $700 million to the New Zealand economy over the six weeks of the event, contributing approximately a third of a percent to GDP. More optimistic assumptions about multiplier effects would suggest a stronger impact, during months which are normally a tourist down-time,” Dr Bollard said.

You can read the full speech at the following link:
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/speeches/4294400.html

SME Luncheon

Prime Minister's Luncheon
"Competitive Economy"
Building economic strength through greater competitiveness
by, H.E ABHISIT VEJJAJIVA,
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand