Ryan Bridge: Are trade missions worth it?

Did you catch the comments yesterday from Malaysia Deputy PM.

He was talking to a kiwi delegation off in KL for ASEAN.

"This will be your new market and we welcome any halal product from New Zealand."

I have always been pretty sceptical about these trade missions, whether they actually achieve something or are just a giant junket.

The truth is their a bit of both. 

On a trip to Vladivostok in Russia back in 2011, our PM got a sit down with Vladimir Putin. 

The guy was late. We waited in the rain for hours. And then he came in in, sat down, spoke in Russian, then had his body guards usher us out of the room. 

He and John Key spoke for about an hour. 

At the time, NZ was trying to cut a free trade deal with Russia - including Belarus and Kazakhstan.

You just don't get that sport of access everyday. Of course, you wouldn't be doing that deal today. We suspended talks in 2014 with Ukraine.

So I grew to accept these meetings actually do achieve something.

Besides, the hotels and accommodation they'd scraped together in a hurry, ahead of the event. So overtime and rushed, the walls in pour provided accommodation wings was still wet with paint, and the lift broke down everyday. 

They're not always glamorous. Great fun all the same. 

But back to the Malaysian Deputy PM. If a Kiwi politician said that to a foreign company wanting to export here. It wouldn't mean much to importers here. 

But there, it's different. If there's anything I learnt about Asia is that's politicians have sway. 

They often control large contracts, have close relationships or control over parts of the economy you wouldn't seen in more western style democracies. 

So when the a leader in a country of 35 million, in a region with 700 million, says something like that. It's probably worth the trip. 

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