George Fergusson said his country was still a land of opportunity for business and a beachhead for New Zealand to tap into a potential market of 500 million people in Europe.
"We certainly have had a recession but probably we are technically out of recession now. Like New Zealand, our main challenge is managing fiscal deficits for the next 12 to 18 months hence."
Britain went into the recession with relatively low debt and it had maintained its AAA credit rating at a review in July.
"There is a perception the British entrepreneurial services, especially our financial services, have turned to custard," he said during a visit to Dunedin last week.
In recent weeks, the HSBC and Barclays banks have announced profits, while the British sharemarket FTSE index was trading above 5000.
Financial services was one part of the economy, though he encouraged New Zealand businesses to look for opportunities in its manufacturing base, the sixth largest in the world by value.
The sector was based on high-technology, added-value products, but much of the output was buried under the bonnet of cars or in the depths of industrial machinery.
The historic relationship and cultural similarities between the two countries made doing business easy, and Mr Fergusson said New Zealand companies had set up a base in Britain from which they managed expansion into Europe.
Under a joint beachhead programme between New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and UK Trade and Investment, between 12 and 14 New Zealand companies a year were getting support with contacts and advice.
Another eight to 10 were doing it under their own steam, he said.
While in Dunedin, Mr Fergusson visited the Centre for Innovation at the University of Otago to promote another collaborative programme, which linked scientists working in similar fields with the goal of eventually achieving research agreements, some investment, sales or purchase licences.
The programme has resulted in about five collaboration agreements a year in agricultural greenhouse gases, renewable energy, smart textiles, meat technology and ICT.
Looking ahead, Mr Fergusson said Europeans were concerned with climate change issues and he encouraged exporters to use that knowledge to differentiate their products.
Britain has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2012 and has so far achieved a 24% reduction.
By 2020, it hoped to achieve a 34% reduction.
"It's all quite real stuff and public opinion in Britain is firmly behind it," he said.
