October 11, 2022
Trade and investment in Māori future
Former cabinet minister Shane Jones says it’s important Māori landowners and asset managers understand the importance of trade.
Mr Jones is speaking to today’s Māori trade forum at parliament called by Te Taumata.
He says in his previous role with Maori fisheries commission Te Ohu Kaimona he helped put together a trade mission for iwi in the early 1990s.
“It opened their eyes as to the value of New Zealand food, New Zealand fish, New Zealand exports in the markets of Asia and it had a tremendously positive impact so that people began to draw the connection between land being converted into a productive purpose and the logistics associated with moving the products into the markets where consumers were prepared to pay a handsome price,” he says.
Mr Jones says there’s a new generation of Maori asset managers and governors who need to not only understand trade but need to find ways to ensure the rewards go to improving the lives of the descendants of the owners.