[ad_1]
New Zealand has signed an update to China’s free trade agreement, which offers some New Zealand products faster access to Chinese markets and reduced tariffs for paper and wood products.
Commerce Minister Damien O’Connor and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao signed the agreement in a video liaison meeting Tuesday afternoon, more than a year after the countries reached an agreement. for the first time.
O’Connor, signing the paperwork at Beehive in Wellington, said the update meant the free trade agreement was fit for another decade. New Zealand was the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China, in 2008.
“What this does is modernize the free trade agreement that we signed in 2008, update it. It offers real opportunities for exporters,” O’Connor said.
Luke Malpass / Stuff
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the East Asia Summit in Bangkok in 2019, where the conclusion of three years of negotiations on updating the New Zealand-China free trade agreement was announced.
READ MORE:
* Two MPs criticize China’s ‘coercive diplomacy’ amid growing turmoil in Australia
* Seafood benefits from improved trade agreement with China, but dairy will have to wait
* New Zealand announces update to trade agreement with China
* Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets with President Xi Jinping in Beijing
“Ten years ago, some of the issues around trade were not so sophisticated, this agreement allows us to move forward, particularly in the area of services.”
New Zealand will already have 98% free trade with China, its largest trading partner, once the existing free trade agreement enters into full force. The update has primarily focused on reducing compliance costs for New Zealand exporters and other measures that facilitate access to Chinese markets.
At the border with China, there will be an expedited six-hour “clearance time” for perishable goods, such as seafood. Exporters will have key personnel they can contact in Chinese ports to solve any problems. More visas will be provided for Chinese tour guides and fewer visas will be provided for traditional medicine professionals.
“These are technical problems that we have fixed through the update and will give more security and certainty to all our exporters,” said O’Connor.
Under the improved agreement, 99 percent of New Zealand’s $ 3 billion worth of paper and wood products trade will gain preferential duty-free access to China. Duties on 12 other wood and paper products will be removed; the expected value of this change was $ 36 million.
Wood products have been an important export to China. Of the $ 6.4 billion in lumber exports in 2018, 48 percent went to China.
Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images
Commerce Minister Damien O’Connor.
There have been no changes to the timeline for eliminating tariffs on dairy products under the existing agreement. Most dairy products will be duty-free within a year and powdered milk by 2024.
Environmental considerations have entered the free trade agreement with the update, including a provision that environmental measures must not be weakened to promote trade and that environmental standards cannot be used for trade protectionist purposes.
“It maintains environmental standards and does not allow any of them to be lowered to gain a business advantage,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said that China would receive access to a market for highly desirable products through the upgrade. The rules for Chinese investors in New Zealand would not change in light of the deal.
Once the updated agreement is signed, the New Zealand Parliament will consider and ratify the agreement before it enters into force.
Wentao, speaking through an interpreter, said the signing of the update was “another milestone” in cooperation between the countries.
“I will be more than happy to maintain working relationships with you; together we break new ground in China-New Zealand trade and economic relations,” he said.
The signing was celebrated by business and forestry groups. ExportNZ CEO Catherine Beard said the deal would be greeted with a “sigh of relief from some exporters.”
“This will bring huge benefits to our exporters of perishable products such as seafood, dairy, the forestry sector and other primary sector industries.”
New Zealand International Business Forum Chairman Philip Gregan said: “It shows that trade liberalization is still possible even in the midst of a global pandemic and that New Zealand and China can pursue a mutually beneficial economic relationship despite the differences between us ”.
Forest Owners Association president Phil Taylor said the deal would benefit the forestry industry “immediately.”
New Zealand has a trade surplus with China, exporting $ 19.4 billion in goods and services to the country and importing $ 13 billion.
