Auckland, New Zealand - May 3, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Banner reading (English) "China Business Summit 2021, The New China Paradigm"
2. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivering speech
3. Various of attendees
4. SOUNDBITE (English) David Banfield, CEO, Comvita:
"There's been strong trade between China and New Zealand for a very long period of time.The latest trade agreement recognizes that close bond between China and New Zealand, and makes it easier for consumers in market to get Comvita products and to get products from New Zealand."

FILE: Auckland, New Zealand - Nov 2020 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Various of port scene
6. Various of cargo plane taxiing, goods being unloaded

FILE: Tianjin Municipality, north China - Oct 17, 2020 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Aerial shots of Tianjin Port
8. Container being loaded onto ship

FILE: Beijing, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Various of traffic, buildings

FILE: Auckland, New Zealand - 2020 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Traffic
11. Various of pedestrians, open stores, customers

The China Business Summit 2021 held on Monday in Auckland highlighted the importance of China-New Zealand relations and cooperation.

When addressing the summit, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern stressed the comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership between New Zealand and China, acknowledging the great potential for bilateral cooperation in trade, humanities, and COVID-19 responses.

According to authorities, despite the raging pandemic, the bilateral trade between China and New Zealand still reached 33 billion New Zealand dollars, or about 23.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, with exports of dairy products, honey, fruits to China increasing significantly. In January 2021, the two countries also signed a protocol on upgrading their 12-year-old free trade agreement (FTA).

David Banfield, CEO of Comvita, New Zealand's largest honey producer, said that Comvita's export to China maintained a rapid growth of more than 20 percent in 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis, and the Chinese market has already accounted for 40 percent of Comvita's business operations. He showed high expectations on the FTA's role in boosting bilateral trade.

"There's been strong trade between China and New Zealand for a very long period of time.The latest trade agreement recognizes that close bond between China and New Zealand, and makes it easier for consumers in market to get Comvita products and to get products from New Zealand," he said.

Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wu Xi and hundreds of people in political and business circles from the two counties also attended the summit.

The China Business Summit 2021 is the seventh annual summit on New Zealand-China relations organized by trade advocacy NZ Inc. and the Auckland Business Chamber.