WELLINGTON, May 15 -- The New Zealand government will be stepping up its trade representation in China, South America and the Middle East to help companies take advantage of growing regional economies, Finance Minister Bill English announced Thursday.

The government's New Zealand Trade and Enterprise agency would receive 69 million NZ dollars (59.78 million U.S. dollars) over four years to increase its presence in the three areas and help 200 more New Zealand firms break into export markets, English said while delivering his annual budget.

"Through difficult times, New Zealand firms have become resilient and innovative. This has enabled them to secure good prices on world markets despite the headwinds of an historically high exchange rate and lower growth among our trading partners," English said in a published speech.

"Looking ahead, there are huge opportunities for New Zealand, as countries in the Asia-Pacific region develop rapidly and demand more of what we produce," he said.

"New Zealand can take this opportunity if we are prepared to support people and businesses to invest and grow, create new products and services, and sell more of them to the world."

The budget also raised government investment in tertiary education, research and innovation, which were crucial for sustained economic growth.

It also supported innovation through new tax measures to enable loss-making start-up companies to cash out all or part of their tax losses from research and development expenditure, and to allow all businesses tax deductibility for R&D "black hole" expenditure.