New Zealand at the Shanghai Expo

NZTE’s trade commissioner in Shanghai, Jeff Shepherd, says getting to know Chinese business people on a personal level is critical and the significance may not be fully appreciated by some New Zealanders.

“The New Zealand Pavilion provides an opportunity to deepen relationships and extend hospitality to our place.

“New Zealanders are perceived as a very friendly and hospitable people by the Chinese. Our Free Trade Agreement shows that China is important to us economically and on a people-to-people basis.

“We can suffer from being a bit laid-back compared with our competitors. It comes back to having people in a company who are dedicated and excited about China, and who understand the need to respond quickly.”

New Zealand’s participation in the Shanghai Expo is part of a long-term strategic engagement in China and the wider region.

A 'tectonic shift' is occurring in the world economy with the rise of Asia, says  Phillip Gibson, New Zealand’s commissioner general for the Shanghai Expo. China is a powerhouse and now New Zealand’s third largest export market.

It  took $3.6 billion of Kiwi exports in the year to December 2009.

But the New Zealand Pavilion at Shanghai will not be a trade fair. “It’s about showcasing who we are as a country.”

The Chinese expect 70 million people to visit the expo, the majority from China. Gibson anticipates 40,000 people will go through the New Zealand Pavilion each day – “Eden Park a day”.

Over 200 countries will be taking part. The expo runs from May to October, located on a 5.2 square-kilometre site in downtown Shanghai.

The pavilion experience

There are three stages to the pavilion experience. Visitors will queue in a welcoming area in front of the pavilion where they will be greeted by New Zealanders speaking fluent Chinese.

A kapa haka group will perform in this area three times a day. The building itself, a wedge-shape, is a physical representation of the Maori creation myth Rangi and Papa, linking the sky with the earth.

Once inside the three-storey building, visitors can engage with a number of video documentaries which interpret the expo’s theme Better City, Better Life.

A touch-point will be a pounamu boulder, the jade being also special to Chinese.

Emerging at the top of the building, the visitors then walk back down through a New Zealand native garden. Already Chinese media are describing the pavilion as a ‘must-see’.