Hong Kong free trade agreement to be signed
National Business Review, New Zealand
Hong Kong free trade agreement to be signed
NZPA | 23 March 2010
Trade Minister Tim Groser will sign a free trade agreement with Hong Kong when he visits there on Monday.
The New Zealand Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership (CEP) will help New Zealand businesses expand in the region, Mr Groser said.
"Concluding this agreement represents a strategic milestone for New Zealand and is particularly significant for Hong Kong as its first free trade agreement with any economy outside of Mainland China," Mr Groser said.
"This deal will help New Zealand businesses take further advantage of growing opportunities in the region and help maintain momentum towards New Zealand’s wider goal of deeper integration in the Asia-Pacific."
CEP negotiations with Hong Kong began back in 2001 but broke down the following year.
New Zealand’s free trade agreement with China, which was signed in April 2008, opened up the opportunity for more negotiations which began in May last year and were completed in August.
Hong Kong is New Zealand’s ninth largest export market. In the year to December, New Zealand’s exports to there grew by more than 13 per cent.
Two-way trade for the year to December was worth $952 million, representing a 33 percent increase over the preceding five year period in annual trade.
