Prime Minister Chris Hipkins met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Zhao Leji at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday.
“New Zealand’s relationship with China is one of our most significant and wide-ranging so I was pleased to meet President Xi and reaffirm our important bilateral ties,” Hipkins says.
In his brief introductory remarks, Hipkins highlighted both the fact that New Zealand has now open borders for students and tourists.
“I emphasised the key focus of our visit was to reaffirm our close economic relationship by supporting businesses renew their connections with Chinese counterparts and helping grow new ones to support New Zealand’s economic recovery.
“We discussed many aspects of our relationship, including our significant economic ties and also people-to-people, cultural connections, and areas of direct bilateral cooperation like trade, education, science and innovation, agriculture and tourism.”
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister attended the opening of the World Economic Forum “Annual Meeting of New Champions” in Tianjin, and participated in a Panel appearing alongside the leaders of Viet Nam and Barbados, and WTO Director-General, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Hipkins also attended a partnership signing event between four key New Zealand exporters and their Chinese counterparts, helping New Zealand businesses to reconnect and deepen relationships in this important market.
Prime Minister Hipkins will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang today for further substantive discussions.
