Seminar bid to attract capital from Singapore

Press, 25 February 1986, Page 7

Seminar bid to attract capital from Singapore

By

DAVID PORTER

NZPA staff correspondent Singapore

A seminar aimed at attracting to New Zealand investment capital freed up by Singapore’s economic downturn will be held in Singapore in the next couple of months, said the Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Moore, yesterday.

The seminar would be announced at a luncheon meeting with top local businessmen involved in the $5OO million two-way trade, the Minister said.

New Zealand hoped to benefit from the downturn which has hit the Singapore economy since 1985 by attracting investment in hotel and other tourist projects.

Singapore businessmen would be advised of opportunities to source products in New Zealand on a co-operative or joint venture basis and “launder" them through the island State to other Asian markets, he said. “My responsibility (at the meeting) was to give a briefing on the changes in the New Zealand economy, which still surprise them,” said Mr Moore who arrived to get together a 40-member business mission to Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan. “Because the Singapore economy is in a downturn a lot of people are looking to invest elsewhere,” he said.

“We will be organising in Singapore over the next couple of months a seminar for Singapore in-

vestors and business people to explain again the changes in the New Zealand economy, the opportunities they have for investment, and the kind of product we believe will be attractive into the Singapore economy.” A big new tourism campaign which involves Air New Zealand and eight local tour firms committing about $500,000, should reach a cumulative audience of 10 million people. The campaign includes Singapore television broadcasts of 10-minute “spots” being recorded in New Zealand and fullpage colour newspaper advertisements. It is backed by radio advertising and a travelling video and a Maori cultural show.