Compared with most NZ embassies, the Abu Dhabi outpost in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was a little more commercially focused, he said.
“My mandate is to support NZ firms shoulder to shoulder. Across the Gulf states diplomacy and commercial activity are quite closely aligned.”
This new approach had been paying off since the embassy opened with Millar at the helm in 2011.
“There are growth opportunities here for NZ in every respect and it is a great jumping off spot.”
In February the UAE government announced $150 billion worth of projects including water canals and tourism infrastructure.
“It’s like the Christchurch rebuild but getting bigger all the time.
“We are taking more of a partnership approach with the UAE while strongly promoting economic linkages.”
NZ is piloting a government to government programme to work with different government agencies in Abu Dhabi to help with their capacity needs.
“One focus is on water. You wouldn’t have thought that NZ with all its water could have told the Emiratis about water when they have such dire water concerns here.
“Precisely because some areas in NZ are quite dry we have to manage our water really carefully and we are really good at it and the science behind it.”
NZ was involved in a series of projects including:
Monitoring sap flow in date palms.
Measuring groundwater.
Measuring water use and need.
“The local agencies are essentially our client and in partnership with them we work with teams of local Emiratis.
“Some of the work is in species management within fisheries and some in eco-tourism. We are just quietly raising the lid on knowledge and capacity here.
“There has been so much activity in Abu Dhabi for NZ that we have become a full scale embassy, covering Qatar, the seven Emirates of the UAE and with growing responsibility for Iraq.
“We work as one office, cross-pollinating with NZ Trade and Enterprise, depending on the most advantageous location.”
Trade and Enterprise’s office was only a traffic-free 90 minute drive east to Dubai.
The Abu Dhabi embassy was small, with Millar, two Kiwi staff and three local staff.
“Our role partly is looking over the horizon. My predecessors in Foreign Affairs did a great job of looking over the horizon at South East Asia and China.
“Now we have started looking at Africa.
“It will be harder to access and Asia is clearly closer to NZ but accessing Africa via the UAE is part of that answer.
“If you are a NZ company and serious about doing trade into the Middle East and right through Africa, the UAE is the jumping off point, even to Europe.
“One thing about this place is that it really does run on relationships.
“It’s the way rural communities operate and things are done on a handshake, which is why Kiwis do well here.
“My number one message is to pick up the phone and talk to me. I am happy to talk to anyone about this region.
“I will absolutely support any NZ company who comes to the door, once I have got to know them and am confident I am dealing with good people.
“Here we have some very senior government contacts up to sheik level and you can’t afford to get it wrong.
“It can be a little bit difficult here so the Government is riding shotgun with you.”
For example, the first question a company is asked is if they have contracts with the NZ government.
“If you don’t have those contracts then obviously you have less of an established reputation and they may not deal with you.
“Because business doesn’t work that way in NZ, one way is to have the embassy here vouch for them.
“We can also put you in touch with our local expat business community and they can give you the real oil. I am a big believer in business to business links.
“And the next thing to do is to get on a plane and get over here.”
Kiwis had another advantage conducting business in the UAE, Millar said.
“Some other nationalities here never work out that this is a tribally based society, with a tangata whenua concept.
“Emiratis are people of the land in the same tribal kind of way as Maori. I think that is where Kiwis fit in really well. They are not pushing against something they don’t understand.”
And it was very easy for women to do business in the UAE, he said.
Millar said more than 200 ethnicities in the UAE lived in perfect harmony.
“It’s a real model for the rest of the region.
“NZ companies say to us ‘We wish we had come five years ago’, which is an interesting counterpoint.”
