New Zealand will sign a free trade agreement with China in early April, New Zealand announced yesterday -- the first such deal between the Asian economic powerhouse and a developed economy.
Trade Minister Phil Goff said outstanding technical requirements and processes to finalize the deal "are on track for completion" in coming weeks.
The signing ceremony and related events are "planned to take place in Beijing from 6 to 9 April," he said.
China and New Zealand began 15 rounds of detailed negotiations for the agreement in July 2004, as China sought to consolidate and extend its trading arrangements with developed economies.
Beijing said it had selected New Zealand to enter the talks as it was the first developed economy to recognize the emerging China as having a market-based economy. New Zealand was also the first Western nation to reach a bilateral deal with China on its accession to the WTO.
"This FTA has been negotiated with the overriding objective of opening up economic opportunities for New Zealand business in China and to boost commercial ties with our now third largest trading partner," Goff said.
Earlier, he predicted the trade deal potentially will boost New Zealand's exports of goods and services to China by up to NZ$400 million (US$326 million) a year.
Two-way trade between the two states is worth more than NZ4.8 billion a year, with Chinese exports making up approximately 80 percent.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday the free trade agreement would cut tariff barriers for New Zealand farm exports to China. Farm output makes up half of New Zealand's annual production.
"China has very open access to our market now. The key breakthrough in this agreement with China will be us getting some reciprocity because we do face quite significant tariffs on key exports," she told reporters.
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