New Zealand will be officially represented at the China International Import Expo, with two pavilions that will showcase a range of quality products. Our correspondent Owen Poland spoke with New Zealand's Minister for Trade and Export Growth about the importance of sending the right message to Chinese consumers.

DAVID PARKER NEW ZEALAND MINISTER FOR TRADE & EXPORT GROWTH "It's really important that people know that the story they hear about New Zealand is authentic, that we do our utmost to take care of the environment, that we've got good labour standards, that we're a fair country, and that we're so beautiful. And this is an opportunity to showcase those qualities as we also forge those closer, people-to-people and trading relationships."

OWEN POLAND CGTN REPORTER "The Expo is being held just a few weeks after the tenth anniversary of the historic Free Trade Agreement between New Zealand and China – what to you have been the highlights of that Agreement?"

DAVID PARKER NEW ZEALAND MINISTER FOR TRADE & EXPORT GROWTH "We rely upon fairness in our trading relationships, and of course that's what the China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement does, it actually sets fair rules around trade, tariffs and non-tariff barriers. And as a consequence of that Agreement, trade between our two countries has boomed, it's tripled, it's now 28 billion dollars two-way trade in goods and services. There's been investment flows in both directions as well and it has served the interests of both China and New Zealand very well."

OWEN POLAND CGTN REPORTER "Behind the scenes - officials from both countries have spent the past two years working to upgrade and modernise the trade agreement, what are your ambitions and hopes about how the upgrade will play out?"

DAVID PARKER NEW ZEALAND MINISTER FOR TRADE & EXPORT GROWTH "Things have changed in the last ten years. When the Free Trade Agreement was originally signed, the internet was virtually not in frequent use as a mode of commerce. Now, e-commerce is important to both countries and so we'd expect to see improvements in the rules relating to e-commerce that work for both of us. There are certain other things that we want to see, for example, New Zealand faces quite high tariffs for manufactured timber products, lumber and the like, and that's a disadvantage and hinders trade between our two countries, so we're hoping to see a bit of progress on that."

OWEN POLAND CGTN REPORTER "From an outsiders perspective negotiations seem to be moving rather slowly - and of course there was a change of Government here twelve months ago – so how would you describe the current relationship between New Zealand and China?"

DAVID PARKER NEW ZEALAND MINISTER FOR TRADE & EXPORT GROWTH "We're in an unusual position in New Zealand. We're such a little country, we just rely upon in some ways being an honest broker in the world. We like to think that we are pretty transparent and open with our relationships with all of the larger countries including China and we think we have a very positive relationship. We think that that relationship can be improved even further. We of course have a large resident Chinese population in New Zealand who migrated here in recent years, adding to the migration that happened back in the late eighteen hundreds which was largely related to gold mining. So those people-to-people relationships, allied with those political relationships and the trade which flows between our two countries mean that our relationship's in fantastic shape."