NZAGA and AIC chairman Tony Ponder and NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular on the NZ Avocado stand at China Fruit and Vegetable Fair.
It was a momentous occasion for our new chairman Tony Ponder and I to hear at a meeting in Beijing that the protocol for access for New Zealand avocados to China would be signed in New Zealand on November 15 this year.
We were at a formal meeting between China's
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, AQSIQ, and the New Zealand horticulture companies attending the China International Fruit and Vegetable fair, FVF.
It's the fourth year we have attended as an industry. The first year Alan Pollard, New Zealand Apples and Pears CEO, suggested it, he had successfully negotiated for New Zealand to be the partner country.
He wanted the New Zealand stand to showcase a number of horticulture industries, there was good opportunity to get in front of officials, and we know that success in a market includes building long term relationships that take time. The stand we built was a red marae inspired pavilion — a style we have used at every show since then.
This year we joined New Zealand Apples and Pears, Rockit apples, T&G Global, Zespri, NZ Persimmons, NZ Onions and Plant & Food Research on the New Zealand pavilion. The show itself was twice as large as the previous year and livelier. It is a political tradeshow, sponsored by the equivalent of our Ministry for Primary Industries.
