The Hong Kong Trade and Business Roadshow toured the country in May, with Te Puni Kōkiri Tāmaki Makaurau hosting the first of five hui around the motu.

The potential of the multi-billion-dollar Māori economy has been likened to a sleeping giant but participants at the Auckland roadshow for Māori businesses were told the Taniwha Economy is no longer sleeping: it’s wide awake and ready to talk trade with the Hong Kong Dragon.

Tāmaki Makaurau Regional Director Pauline Kingi said: “We are working to connect leaders of the world’s most developed economy, to those at the helm of one of our nation’s fastest growing economies, the Māori economy.”

“Māori could relate to Hong Kong’s hugely significant culture and history,” she said. “Noting that New Zealand’s own Treaty of Waitangi with the British Crown was signed barely a year before the Treaty of Nanking. Cantonese became an official language in Hong Kong in 1974 – while te reo Māori became an official language of New Zealand in 1987.”

Te Puni Kōkiri Chief Executive, Leith Comer said the Hong Kong economy is seen as one of the world’s most dynamic, and a natural gateway into mainland China for entrepreneurs.

“The ease of establishing and doing business in Hong Kong has opened up a range of commercial opportunities for Māori business owners with low set up costs, low business tax and highly developed infrastructure.”

“Like the peoples of Hong Kong, Māori are working to strengthen our economic base while also celebrating our cultural and historical heritage,” said Leith.

Te Puni Kōkiri worked with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise to host the Hong Kong Roadshows in Auckland, Napier, Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch. Representatives from the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office, Invest Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council specifically came to meet with Māori business owners showing strong interest in Hong Kong both as an export destination and as a pathway to China and the wider Asia market.