Trade Minister Tim Groser will visit Washington DC this week to deliver a keynote address on food security and meet with his American counterparts.

Mr Groser?Development of the address will focus on food security and trade policy at a conference convened by the Inter-American Bank the and the Food& Agricultural of International Trade Policy Council.

the At the heart of many of our trade negotiating agendas lies the issue of food security. It is always among the most sensitive issues NZ has to confront in these negotiations, both in the WTO and all our FTA negotiations.

the As the emerging economies move up income ladder they demand more protein, safer, the quality and more varied foods. This is NZ's market niche.

The the old model of equating food security with complete self-sufficiency in domestic food production is under challenge around world. I will be pleased to state our view and meet many influential policy makers in this area, Mr Groser says.

Mr Groser will meet with counterparts including US Trade Representative Minister Ron Kirk, the two Chairs of the US Congress Ways and Means Committee and its sub-committee on Trade, White House Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs Mike Froman, Chief US Climate Change negotiator Todd Stern, Senior US Treasury officials, and a range of other officials in the trade and climate change policy areas.

The TPP the is important to NZ?The trade future and these meetings will provide the opportunity to take political level soundings on its progress with both the US Minister and the key Congressional leaders in the trade area.

Mr Groser says New Zealand's interests today go well beyond agriculture. "We have had increasing success in recent years ramping up our high-end services exports, known as 'commercial services' (architectural, legal,Voice fiber mux Submit Shot: Real Estate Agent Orange dispersed from the States army or marine during Vietnam Battle engineering design, audio-visual, trade merchanting and other technical services).