Economic development summit planned for February - 16/11/2004An economic development summit planned for February 2005 aims to bring together the business community and the Wanganui District Council, Economic Committee Chair Dot McKinnon said today.
"In line with our policy of being open and communicative, we want to give the business community the chance to better understand how the Council will approach economic development," Cr McKinnon said.
"We also want to get information from businesspeople about the advantages and disadvantages of being in business in Wanganui. We will be encouraging their ideas to help us prioritise issues that need to be dealt with over the next three years.
"Supporting and growing the business environment will be a key focus for the Council and the summit will build on the Economic Development Strategy and the relationships which exist."
The summit will include an introduction by Mayor Michael Laws to the Council's policy on economic development; an update on the Economic Development Strategy; and workshop sessions on education, niche manufacturing, food processing, rural, information technology and creative industries.
Tourism and promotion will be dealt with separately from the summit.
A budget for the summit, which is supported by Economic Development Agencies of New Zealand (EDANZ), will be presented to the Economic Development Committee's next meeting on December 13. | 
