WELLINGTON, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce will travel to China on Saturday for a four- city tour to push education and other goods and services.

The six-day visit will take in the cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing and Shenzhen, Joyce said in a statement Friday.

In Hangzhou, he would take part in education meetings, while in Shanghai and Beijing, Joyce would host senior Chinese officials, company representatives and media at a series of events aimed at enhancing the New Zealand brand and raising awareness of New Zealand's food and beverages, technology, education and investment opportunities.

Joyce would also open the Shenzhen Hi-Tech Fair, China's largest high-tech event, where eight New Zealand companies would be exhibiting.

"Since the FTA (free trade agreement) came into force in September 2008, more than 90 percent of tariffs have been reduced to zero, two-way trade has increased by 75 percent and New Zealand exports to China have more than tripled," Joyce said.

"In the year ending September 2013, total two-way trade between New Zealand and China was up 16.8 percent to 16.53 billion NZ dollars (13.77 billion U.S. dollars). Exports were up 28.5 percent to a record high of 8.27 billion NZ dollars and imports were up 7 percent to 8.26 billion NZ dollars (6.86 billion U.S. dollars)," he said.

"Education is now New Zealand's third largest export to China after dairy and wood, with over 24,000 fee-paying Chinese students studying in New Zealand in 2012 (up 4.5 percent on the previous year). Students from China now account for 27 percent of the international student population in New Zealand and contributed 800 million NZ dollars (664 million U.S. dollars) to the economy."