NZ values at summit

Climate change and trade will be the focus when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern embarks on her next major diplomatic mission to the US this month. Ardern and Trade Minister Damien O’Connor focused on New Zealand’s ‘‘values’’ – whether they be kaitiakitanga or human rights – during speeches to business leaders at the US Business Summit in Auckland yesterday. O’Connor urged exporters to think not just about ‘‘volume to value’’, but also ‘‘volume to values’’. ‘‘Consumers are increasingly looking for the values with which food and fibre are produced. Kaitiakitanga is good for you and good for the planet,’’ he said. Ardern and O’Connor are scheduled to fly to the US late this month, leading a delegation that the prime minister insists is trade-focused with politics tapped onto the side.