Mr English was hosted on Saturday by former prime minister and Mt Cook Alpine Salmon Ltd chairman Jim Bolger, who briefed the Deputy Prime Minister on the expansion of the company, which looks to increase export production 14-fold within the next five years. After a tour of the farm and a history lesson on salmon farming in the Mackenzie basin, the Deputy Prime Minister Mr English said he was impressed with the company's operations and expansion plans.
"This company is an example of an export industry in good shape and attracting capital. New Zealand needs more of it," Mr English said.
He said although the effects from new investment businesses such as Mt Cook Alpine Salmon would not be seen in government budgets for a few years, "it gives me great heart to know there are people out there getting on with it".
Mr Bolger said aquaculture had been identified as a potential $1 billion industry in New Zealand and the Government was increasingly looking to the industry, and companies such as this, to help drive export growth and the New Zealand economy.
He said the partnership with the Crown in leasing space in the canals to private enterprises such as salmon farming - first granted by what is now Meridian Energy in 1991, during his time as prime minister -was a world first and very forward thinking at the time.
"Now, 20 years on, salmon farming in the Mackenzie basin will undoubtedly be a dominant driver of growth and jobs in the region over the next decade," Mr Bolger said.
