Patrick English has been involved with China and international trade since 1989, and Patrick is Chairman of the Ministry for Primary Industry's China-New Zealand Growth Partnership Executive Group, as well as the Chair of Maui Food Group limited - a sheep milk and sheep milk breeding company based in New Zealand. From 2013, Patrick was the Executive Director for the then newly established New Zealand China Council and prior to this, he worked for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise for more than 17 years. Over this time, Patrick spent more than 13 years visiting, living and working in China. He is an experienced Trade Commissioner and diplomat having served in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as Malaysia. Patrick has a BA in International Relations and Chinese and a Masters in International Management and Chinese from the University of Waikato. For 3 years prior to his posting to Guangzhou as Consul General and Trade Commissioner in Southern China, he was part of the New Zealand China FTA negotiations team and led the market implementation programme for the New Zealand China FTA agreement.