Agencies in Tauranga are working together to promote a vibrant city with growing opportunities, believes Labour MP Nania Mahuta.

The MP for Hauraki-Waikato visited the city earlier this week and spoke with a number of agencies and organisations including Priority One and the Merivale Community Centre.

MP for Hauraki-Waikato Nania Mahuta and Merivale Community Centre general manager John Fletcher next to the bra fence on Fraser Street, just down the road from the Merivale Community Centre.

Talking to SunLive during her visit, Nania explained how pleased she was to see the developments happening in the city.

'It's always good coming from the Waikato into Tauranga to see the development, obviously the development at Tauriko there, coming to meet with the different organisations and hearing the different educational opportunities for young people and what's happening in the regional council space in treaty settlements.

'I met with the economic development agency Priority One and we spent a lot of time talking about was how to do you marry the labour market needs with what's happening in education.”

She says in a region like Tauranga retaining and growing skills amongst young people is important.

Nania believes the correlation between education and the workforce is vital.

'It's important for businesses to understand how their needs can better align to the education that is being delivered in schools.

'They are doing a lot of exciting things like Instep – training principals in terms of letting them know what's out there in various industry sectors. I'm excited about the work they are doing.”

During her visit on Tuesday, Nania also had the chance to talk with various iwi groups and the Regional Council about what they're doing to promote Tauranga as a sustainable city.

She says their discussion centred around what is being done ao promote a city that is attractive for people to come to but also has high priority issues like looking after the harbour, looking at efficient land use and development, looking at economic development and getting people working together.

'Tauranga is a beautiful city and no one can deny that. The visit I have had shows people, no matter what sector, want to ensure that Tauranga remains a vibrant and vital city that people choose to come to grow their business.

'These people also want to ensure there are plenty of opportunities for young people.”