Almost 20 partnerships between New Zealand and Chinese firms have been signed following President Xi Jinping's visit to Karaka today.
Mr Xi and his motorcade arrived at the New Zealand Bloodstock Yard in Karaka, south of Auckland city, this afternoon at what was the last official event on the Chinese President's visit to New Zealand.
The Chinese delegation was met by Prime Minister John Key and his wife Bronagh, Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy, Trade Minister Tim Groser, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and a somewhat unruly dairy cow named Gold Win Shine.
The event was an opportunity to showcase New Zealand's agritech industry leaders to the delegation, as well as to finalise 17 commercial partnerships and agreements between New Zealand and China.
Addressing Mr Xi at the partnership ceremony, Mr Guy said it was a historic day for the companies involved.
"You and I were just talking on the way importance of the dairy industry, the beef industry, also a sheep industry and a growing horse industry as well.
"I was also heartened to hear your comments yesterday at the state banquet address in Wellington, where you said New Zealand's high quality dairy, beef and mutton products are sought after by Chinese consumers."
Partnerships signed included those between NZX and Bank of China, Huawei and Spark, Air New Zealand and Air China, and Airways Corporation of New Zealand and KuangChi Science and Shanghai Pengxin Group - on a project to develop balloon technology for an area 20-100 km from the earth's surface to facilitate telecommunications at a fraction of the cost of satellites.
Following the ceremony, Mr Joyce described it as a "good range of partnerships across a range of industries".
"They're all very important and it's great to see some of the Maori involvement in some of these partnerships well."
Many of the agreements had been underway for some time and Mr Xi's visit proved a strong motivator for getting them across the line, Mr Joyce said.
"That's one of the ways that these visits work actually, is that everybody rushes to get everything finished, which is good because it gets a bit more impetus."
Mr Guy said yesterday's time with the President facilitated a number of government-to-government agreements, "today it's about business".
"All of them have some significance for not only the primary sector, but also IT as well.
"We tell the food, fibre and beverage story extremely well, what we don't tell well is the importance of information and technology and also processing facilities.
"We lead the world in that and that's where we've got an opportunity - to help the viability of their farmers, but also their processes.
"This is very much a two-way relationship."