International Business Opportunities

Radio New Zealand Sep 24 2008 12:33AM GMT
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Australian and Japanese officials will meet in Canberra Monday for the first round of negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement.

A senior Australian trade official Friday said on the government condition of anonymity that the two days of talks would focus on setting a framework for future negotiations.

[…] A joint feasibility study commissioned in April 2005, found a comprehensive agreement could boost Australia’s gross domestic product by 39 billion Australian dollars (US$33 billion) and Japan’s by A$27 billion (US$23 billion) over a 20-year period.
[…] Australia has FTAs in place with the United States, Singapore, Thailand and New Zealand and is in negotiations on an agreement with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Chile, China and Malaysia.
Japan has signed FTAs with Mexico, Malaysia and Singapore and is in talks with several other nations on similar agreements.
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As Australia plan to become a new destination for outsourcing of financial services, New Zealand’s businesses face the concern of a talent shortage for 2006.

The point is New Zealand’s most talented employees continue to look for better opportunities in the US, Australia and Europe.

Sandra Lyall, human resources director of Unisys New Zealand, says:

“Talent shortage looks set to become a major concern for CEOs and CIOs in 2006. It has reached a critical level. In the past, talent management and retention programmes have been a perk for employees. Effective talent management is now a business imperative. Companies will no longer be able to retain a competitive advantage without it.”

Unisys experts predict the following HR trends will drive change in the IT sector in 2006:

1. Increasing difficulty finding the best people for positions on offer;

2. Rising costs from recruitment, initial salary offerings, and running programmes and incentives to retain top performers;

3. Increase of flexible working options for employees;

4. Employee retention-once a business has found the right person for the job, the challenge becomes finding the unique motivators to keep them engaged;

5. Managing performance-basic people management techniques and transparency in communication with employees will help to ensure profitable performance.

(source)