ExportNZ Welcomes National Policy On Opening The Border

Executive Director of ExportNZ Catherine Beard has welcomed National’s policy on reopening the border, saying exporters and business travellers would be very supportive of a better approach to managing the movement of people into New Zealand.

"ExportNZ has been calling for a risk-based approach, with double-vaccinated business travellers able to do rapid Covid testing and either home isolation for a short period, or no isolation as the population becomes highly vaccinated in New Zealand.

"While exporters have coped with not being able to travel when the rest of the world was not travelling, that time is coming to an end, and the rest of the world is getting back to face-to-face meetings. It is no longer workable to not be where your customers are. Exporters tell us this is the number two barrier to trade, after shipping and logistics problems.

"Businesses need to be able to plan their trips in advance and know they can get back to New Zealand with little or no down time, and National’s policy recognises this.

"As well as getting exporters back on the road internationally, we also need to get international businesspeople and skilled technical people into New Zealand. For example, there are big investments in new plant and equipment that are being held up because technicians can’t get into New Zealand to install new imported machinery," Catherine Beard said.

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