The United Kingdom’s (UK) International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, engaged in a fifth round of trade talks with New Zealand’s Trade and Export Growth Minister, Damien O’Connor, during a one-on-one in London on Thursday. This comes after agreeing on the broad terms of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Australia on June 14 following the G7 Plus Summit.
As per official statements, both sides agreed on issues like “disputes, transparency, and gender equality on trade.” On Saturday, the Kiwi minister also met with George Eustice, the UK’s Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs and David Frost, the Minister of State.
In a press release, New Zealand Trade Minister O’Connor said, “We’ve held constructive and productive discussions towards the conclusion of a high-quality and comprehensive FTA that will support sustainable and inclusive trade and help drive New Zealand’s economic recovery from COVID.” Both sides have agreed to speed up the trade negotiations and reach a broad consensus on the principles of the agreement by August 2021.
The FTA will encompass removing tariffs from exports, access to markets, investments, job creation, enhanced opportunities for trade, including women-led businesses and entrepreneurs, the Māori community’s economic upliftment, and cooperation in industries like services, digital commerce, and the green economy.
Meanwhile, O’Connor’s British counterpart, Liz Truss, said in a press statement: “A deal would be an important step towards joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a £9 trillion free trade area of half a billion consumers, which would open new opportunities for our farmers, manufacturers and services firms to sell to some the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world.”
The UK’s willingness to negotiate the FTA with New Zealand and Australia comes against the backdrop of Brexit. In the last few weeks, Australia and the UK reached a consensus on a bilateral trade agreement, the latter’s first trade agreement, negotiated from the beginning post exiting the European Union (EU). New Zealand and the UK first engaged in negotiations for the FTA in 2020. In 2019, before the negotiations began, the trade between both countries amounted to roughly $6 billion. Despite negotiations advancing since that point, beef and sheep meat remain e a point of contention between the countries, as British farmers fear that an FTA with New Zealand would force them to compete with cheaper imports flooding the market.
On the plus side, however, the will allow the countries to boost their economic ties and open up more trade opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises. It also promotes cooperation in the fight against climate change and supports strategies to reach net-zero carbon emissions by promoting clean growth and transitions towards a low carbon economy.
Additionally, it will also facilitate the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) and give it access to other markets in the Asia-Pacific, which are collectively worth up to £9 trillion. The CPTTP is a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The UK applied for membership to the CPTTP in February 2021; in June, the member states started discussions on UK’s accession.
Damien O’Connor is likely to meet his trade counterpart in Brussels on Monday to discuss New Zealand’s FTA with the EU.
After Australia, UK Nears FTA With New Zealand
The UK and New Zealand have agreed to speed up the trade negotiations and reach a broad consensus on the principles of the agreement by August 2021.
June 21, 2021
SOURCE: UK TODAY NEWS