NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement exceeding expectations, more benefits ahead

It's just a year since the FTA came into force and the occasion was marked by a function at the Beehive in Wellington, hosted by the EU ambassador to NZ, Lawrence Meredith and the Minister of Trade and Investment, Todd McClay. The function, which doubled as Europe Day, was attended by diplomats, government officials and business people.

McClay told Rural News that the agreement has already seen a surge in exports to the EU - predominantly primary - to the value of about $1 billion. He says lamb, butter and kiwifruit are big winners, as is seafood. He says interestingly machinery exports to the EU are also up. He says the areas of growth are those that in the past faced restrictions and limitations on quota. He adds that while not all the restrictions are gone, the freeing up of these is beneficial to NZ.

"The outcome of the FTA has exceeded my expectations. While I knew this would be good, this has been a very big jump," he says.

McClay says the FTA is not just one way and there's been a 17% increase in the services trade from Europe to NZ. He says the FTA has seen a rebalancing of NZ's trade with the EU because we buy more from them than we sell to them.

He says the FTA has also seen political ties between the EU and NZ strengthen following visits to Europe and Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters.

He says the political relationship is important because we share the same ideals, we have a similar approach to the world and like the rules-based approach. We also both stand up against repression, particularly the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

"So, there is a growing partnership and there are many more areas we might look at to work together," he says.

EU/NZ Business Summit Coming

The EU is looking forward to taking this relationship to the next level, says EU Ambassador to NZ Lawrence Meredith.

To that end, he announced that the first ever EU/NZ business summit in Auckland in late October. He says the event, which will be hosted by Todd McClay, is to further boost trade between the two jurisdictions.

"We will be bringing top European corporates to talk about key issues such as the EU leading globally climate work, NZ globally leading rocket launching and aerospace space. A big topic will be infrastructure, and we are looking at how the EU can help NZ to deliver on its commitment to roads, rail, ports and ferries. It's all about business," he says.

Meredith says there are also some exciting research programmes being undertaken in NZ and funded by the EU. One of these he says is biodegradable sportswear being developed by Scion in Rotorua.

He says a lot has happened since the FTA came into force and it's clearly delivering benefits for people both in the EU and NZ. He says the political ties between between the pair are strong and in these troubled times this is very important.

Meredith says the EU is doing all it can to ensure there is free trade in the world and they are looking at how they can work more closely with the CPTPP group.