New Zealand's Ambassador to China John McKinnon takes an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet in Beijing, capital of China, March 9, 2018. (Xinhuanet photo)

BEIJING, March 19 (Xinhuanet) -- China’s commitment to continuing to comprehensively open its economy and build an open world economy is very important for New Zealand, said John McKinnon, New Zealand's Ambassador to China.

The ambassador made the remarks in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhuanet.

“We’re always interested in what is happening in agriculture in China," he said, "Because that is an area where we have a lot of activities and we export a lot of our produce to China.”

In terms of enterprises cooperation, he spoke highly of the Belt and Road Initiative, saying it is "very significant".

“A number of New Zealand businesses and companies have been very interested in the Belt and Road Initiative,” said the ambassador, “Their particular interest is in areas such as project management, or consultancy, or the like.”

“Everything that we interact with China obviously has to work to both our countries’ benefit,” the ambassador said, referring to the memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries in 2017 on the Belt and Road Initiative.

New Zealand is happy to see that China’s economy is continuing to grow, he said. As part of that growth, people in China are able and willing to purchase goods and services from New Zealand, he added.

The ambassador pointed out that many changes have taken place in China since the country’s reform and opening up.

“What happens here [in China] has a massive influence on what happens elsewhere in the world,” said he.

Looking into the future, the ambassador said every economy in the world today faces challenges－challenges with the skills of its people, with the aging of its population and challenges in terms of protecting the environment.

China will face all of those, along with all other countries. But China’s policymakers are quite skillful. They recognize these difficulties and are trying to find ways to overcome them, said the ambassador.

“It will not always be a straight line, but the direction is very clear,” he said.