Association for the Chinese business community

Tauranga Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout

More than 50 people attended the launch this week of the Bay of Plenty Chinese Business and Commerce Association, which aims to support the growing Chinese business community in the region and foster closer economic relations with China.

Those taking part in the opening included representatives from the Chinese Embassy, Chunman Xu and Jiale Zhang, Tauranga Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout and other guests from Chinese-related community networks.

"It's a very significant development," said Mr Clout.

China was now New Zealand's largest trading partner and the new organisation would help foster those closer ties economically, he said.

"It's really encouraging to see lots of innovative and creative Chinese businesspeople moving to Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty."

Candy Yan, a personal banker with ANZ, who is president of the new association, said especially over the past couple of years there had been a number of Chinese people from the mainland investing and settling in the Bay of Plenty.

"When I first joined ANZ in Tauranga, I was probably the only Chinese-speaking person in the bank," she said.

That meant she often had to liaise on behalf of Chinese-speaking clients with local lawyers, accountants and real estate agents.

However, Tauranga's Chinese-speaking business community now included people in the legal services and real estate sectors, and there was an increasing number of Chinese-owned businesses opening, including a supermarket and an ophthalmologist, with a doctor's practice scheduled to open later in the year.

Charlie Song, accounting team manager with Manning Warner Browne, is vice-president, and Jensen Zeng, a residential sales representative from Eve's Realty, is secretary of the association.

To date the association had about 40 members, said Ms Yan, and all members of the Chinese business community were encouraged to join. Membership would be free for the first year, with support coming from sponsors including Manning Warner Browne, ANZ, Realty Services Holland Beckett Lawyers, Harris Tate, Elite Migration, Ray White Commercial and Millenium Insurance Group.

"A lot of newcomers from China don't really understand the system here."

The association aimed to provide a central network of people who could assist in providing accounting, tax advisory, legal, immigration, finance and investment services.