NZ traders urged to become more engaged with China

WELLINGTON, May 10 (Xinhua): New Zealand traders need to become more active and engaged in trading with China, according to the head of the New Zealand China Trade Association (NZCTA). NZCTA chairman Stuart Ferguson dismissed perceptions that China was a "difficult" place to do business. "The future is clearly written on the wall we have to trade with China and it's a good place to trade so long as you understand that it's not New Zealand you're dealing with," Ferguson told the reporter ahead of the biennial NZCTA China trade awards in Auckland last Thursday. "A lot of the mythology about the difficulties of dealing with China is just that mythology. It's no different from dealing with many other places where there are differences in custom and language," said Ferguson. "China is a market for our consumer durables and expendables and intellectual property and it has been increasing in value and breadth. The future for NZ in China is fantastic," said Ferguson, who was general manager and a director of COSCO New Zealand, a branch of the Chinese shipping giant, for 22 years.