SMART THINKING FROM WELLINGTON CHAMBER

Anyone in the export business will tell you its hard to get a handle on all the things that a prospective exporter needs to do. Its a minefield. We worked on a project to simplify regs for food exporters a while back. I alwasy reckoned that the concept that the chamber has up and running was the way to go. Well done guys.

Here is the Chambers Press release

New Operation for Wellington Exporters to be Established

EMA Central and the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce are delighted to announce their intention to establish a one stop shop for exporters in the Greater Wellington region.

The new operation will be a joint venture between the two organisations with each contributing export related services and support staff. The joint venture will both make it simpler for exporters to receive advice on exporting and increase the quality and range of services available to exporters in the region. It is hoped that the operation could more cost effectively deliver some of the export support operations of NZTE. We also intend to work very closely with Grow Wellington and explore expanding the concept to involve other Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Agencies in the central region.

The joint venture operation, to be called Export Wellington, will be guided by the Export New Zealand Regional Committee, who are locally elected exporters and advisers, with additional members appointed by EMA Central and the Wellington Regional Chamber. The joint venture will provide a continuation of the services already being offered by Export New Zealand in the Wellington Region. Events and activities will take place at the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce in the Majestic Centre on Willis Street.

The joint venture will offer the following services:

• Export certification;
• Information on export markets;
• Export related training;
• Export consultancy services
• Exporter events;
• Regional export awards;
• Events for visiting delegations
• Links to the international Chamber of Commerce global network.
• Channelling contributions for export advocacy

The joint venture has also been structured to enable Wellington regional exporters to join the recently re-launched Export New Zealand organisation via a membership with EMA Central or with the Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce. That in turn provides access to the full range of services and advocacy offered nationally by Export New Zealand.

“The Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce and EMA Central have been working for the last few years towards a better collaborative relationship. It is good we can now formalise that collaboration,” said Chamber CEO, Charles Finny, .

“This offers the opportunity to increase the value proposition for both sets of memberships and to expand the range of services available for Wellington regional exporters,” said EMA Central CEO, Paul Winter.

“Times are tough out there and they will get tougher. In these circumstances it makes sense to consolidate operations and expand the range of services and supports available. Monitoring the impact of the international financial crisis and conveying latest intelligence on what it means will be a key role for the new operation,” Charles Finny concluded.

and the Chambers CE Charles Finney has some more background here at the Dear John blog