New Zealand presses case for free trade deal with US
Agence France Presse | 11 September 2007
New Zealand presses case for free trade deal with US
WELLINGTON (AFP) - New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark pressed her country’s case for a free trade deal with the US Monday, saying it would benefit both countries.
Relations between the two countries have warmed in the last couple of years despite a continuing disagreement over New Zealand’s 1985 ban on nuclear weapons and power which soured the relationship for two decades.
"Studies show that an FTA would be beneficial for both of us," Clark told the forum.
"It would also be a logical extension of our strong shared commitment to freeing up trade in the WTO and APEC contexts."
But Clark acknowledged that New Zealand did not expect a free trade deal to be agreed upon soon.
New Zealand has recognised that other countries are ahead of it in the queue for a free trade deal with Washington, but has continued to press its case, especially since Australia signed a deal with the US in 2005.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told the forum — aimed at broadening links between the two countries — cooperation between the two countries had grown in the last 18 months.
"We share many of the same values and interests, and the stage is now set for us to expand our engagement further and solidify our cooperation on a wide range of issues," Hill said.
"I think as we go further we are going to be able to make progress and to keep an eye on what we all want to see eventually, which is — at some point — a free trade agreement," he said.
The nuclear ban led in 1985 to an end to visits by US warships and New Zealand’s loss of its status as a US ally.
"Unfortunately from then on our relationship with the United States came to be defined by what we disagreed on — primarily the nuclear policy — rather than by our strong commonality of purpose in most endeavours," Clark told a United States New Zealand Partnership Forum in Auckland.
"In March when President Bush and I met again in Washington we agreed it was in both countries? interests to have a forward looking relationship and to focus on working together on the many issues where our interests coincide."
Other US representatives at the forum included Agriculture Under-Secretary Mark Rey, former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, American Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue and senior executives from Google, Microsoft, Time-Warner, Boeing and Nike.
