Trade ties with the US will be strengthened when Trade Minister Tim Groser meets his American counterparts and delivers a keynote speech in Washington DC this week.
Mr Groser, who is also climate change minister, flies to the US capital on Wednesday for meetings with US Trade Representative Minister Ron Kirk, White House deputy national security adviser Mike Froman, chief US climate change negotiator Todd Stern, Congress committee chairs and senior Treasury officials.
They will discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement negotiations, and Mr Groser says the meetings are an opportunity to hear US political views on the proposed trade deal and on trade with New Zealand generally.
"We have had increasing success in recent years ramping up our high-end services exports [such as] architectural, legal, engineering design, audio-visual, trade merchanting and other technical services," Mr Groser said.
"At some $4 billion in 2011, (those services are) almost equal to 10 per cent of our total merchandise exports and complement our traditional services exports in education and tourism."
Mr Groser will also speak at a conference convened by the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council.
He says the issue of food security is New Zealand's "market niche" when it comes to exports.
"As the emerging economies move up the income ladder they demand more protein, (and) safer, quality and more varied foods," he said.
Mr Groser will return to New Zealand on Sunday.
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