Deputy Prime Minister Bill English visited Tauranga yesterday to discuss major issues impacting on the region including Psa and the country's financial future.

Bill met with leaders from local schools including Katikati College, Aquinas College and Papamoa College at the Holland Beckett offices on Cameron Road to talk leadership on Tuesday afternoon.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and Deputy Prime Minister Bill English talk to student leaders in Tauranga.

For the past two years Bill has held a forum with Tauranga students as a chance to speak about New Zealand's place in the world.

Katikati College's head girl Danni Roberts was the first to break the silence asking the Deputy Prime Minister if all countries have a say in APEC conferences.

Bill replied saying in a meeting with richer countries with larger populations, like America and Vietnam, New Zealand is near the bottom of the financial scale.

Admitting money equals power Bill says New Zealand acts as a ‘mother' to smaller nations.

'There's no doubt about that. It's a hierarchy of size but we need to make sure that we listen carefully to those who are smaller than us.”

Bill says New Zealand attempts to treat all countries the same no matter how much money they have, as that is how NZ would like to be treated by larger countries.

Prior to meeting with students, Bill visited a Tauranga kiwifruit orchard to discuss the impact of the vine killing disease Psa on growers and the horticultural industry.

'I learnt about the way orchardists are adapting their management to manage the PSA.

'Originally the Government handed over quite a large amount of money to help them try to prevent the spread - that didn't work, and now the orchardists are adapting to the fact that they may well be living with PSA.

'It's important to us the kiwifruit industry succeeds because it has been a growing successful industry. It's up to industry really.”

Bill had lunch at Mills Reef among 80 local businessmen after he opened the new Sharp Tudhope building.

The new $13.5million building on the corner of Devonport Road and 1st Avenue was officially opened yesterday and is the first building to earn a four-star rating by the Green Building Council.