Letter of Support: Reform of the Overseas Investment Act 2005

The Wellington Chamber of Commerce and Business Central (The Chamber) writes to express our support for BusinessNZ and ExportNZ’s submissions on the Treasury’s Discussion Document titled Reform of the Overseas Investment Act 2005 (the discussion document).

The Chamber has been the voice of business in the Wellington region for 162 years since 1856 and advocates policies that reflect the interests of the business community in both the city and region, and the development of the region’s economy as a whole. The Chamber advocates the views of its members and obtains that view through regularly surveying members.

We are a business membership association, representing 3,625 members and their interests throughout the Wellington region, as well as being one of the four regional organisations comprising New Zealand’s peak business advocacy group, BusinessNZ. In Wellington, our organisation operates the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, accredited to the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce network. Our organisation also delivers ExportNZ to Wellington, the Hawke’s Bay and the Central region.

Our organisation is pleased to see Treasury is taking the initiative to remove some of the barriers to overseas investment and to simplify the processes for foreign investment from those already with consents to do so. We believe that removing barriers to foreign direct investment (FDI) is essential to facilitating growth in the economy. We are, however, concerned that any provision for greater ministerial discretion could create unnecessary uncertainty for foreign investors.

The Chamber supports BusinessNZ and ExportNZ’s submissions to Treasury and wholly endorses their comments on the discussion document. When considering their submission, we would appreciate Treasury adding our voice and the voice of our 3,625 members to those submissions.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit, we look forward to the reform moving forward.

Yours sincerely,