WELLINGTON, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand China Council (NZCC) on Tuesday welcomed the upgrade to the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which was signed more than 10 years ago.
The successful conclusion of negotiations to upgrade the 2008 agreement shows the bilateral relationship is "in good heart," NZCC Chairman Don McKinnon said in a statement.
"It's encouraging to see improved rules for trade between New Zealand and China. The ability to address a number of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade is good news for our exporters," McKinnon said.
The re-allocation of visa numbers to allow more Chinese language teachers will boost the council's capacity in Chinese language, something the NZCC has consistently advocated for, he said.
"Improvements to rules on trade in e-commerce are also welcome, given the growth in this type of trade between New Zealand and China," McKinnon said, adding the upgrade to the more-than-10-years-old FTA will serve to strengthen the relationship between New Zealand and its largest trading partner.
The new rules will make exporting to China easier and reduce compliance costs for New Zealand exports by millions of dollars each year. This includes, for example, faster border release of fresh food products, and other products that may have transited through other countries en route to China.
The upgrade will also mean that 99 percent of New Zealand's three billion-NZ dollar (1.94 billion-U.S. dollar) wood and paper trade to China will have preferential access, with tariff elimination over a 10-year implementation period on 12 additional wood and paper products worth 36 million NZ dollars in trade to China, it said.
In dairy, existing conditions have been maintained, with all safeguard tariffs to be eliminated within just over two years for most products, and four years for milk powder, according to the FTA upgrade.
"This means that by January 2024, New Zealand will have the best access to China for dairy products of any country," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
China is New Zealand's largest trading partner, with two-way trade recently exceeding 32 billion NZ dollars (21 billion U.S. dollars), New Zealand government statistics showed.
Wu Xi, Chinese ambassador to New Zealand, told Xinhua the FTA upgrade will further deepen bilateral relations, and will bring more vitality to the trade cooperation between the two sides.
The FTA, signed in 2008 between China and New Zealand, is the first FTA reached between China and a developed country. The escalation of the FTA reflects the needs of the rapid development of the bilateral economic and trade ties so as to further promote the regional economic integration, Wu said.
