New Zealand to explore S. Korea trade deal
February 28, 2006
New Zealand to Explore S. Korea Trade Deal
Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand is planning to explore the possibility of forging a free trade agreement with South Korea, Minister of State Jim Sutton said Tuesday.
"There are few countries with more complementary economies that (South) Korea and New Zealand," Sutton said in a statement before flying out for meetings in the South Korean capital of Seoul.
While a free trade deal could be "some way off, it would provide real benefits to the people of both countries," the former Trade Negotiations minister said.
The "counter-seasonal" nature of South Korean and New Zealand farm growing cycles would ensure ongoing supplies of "high-quality farm produce year round for both markets," he said.
Sutton also said he will seek to reassure South Korean farmers "that New Zealand (farm) exports pose no threat to local producers."
Korean farmers have been adamantly opposed to free trade agreements in the past because their fear that lowering trade barriers will ruin their livelihoods by allowing agricultural imports to flood into the country.
A free trade agreement would provide net economic benefits to both countries, according to a study by the Korean Institute of Economic Policy and New Zealand’s Institute of Economic Research.
Work toward a bilateral trade deal intially was begun at the suggestion of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung when he visited New Zealand in 1999.
Three years ago the Korea-New Zealand Business Council said that a free trade agreement between the two nations could double exports within five years.
Bilateral trade between the two countries totaled 2.1 billion New Zealand dollars (US$1.4 billion; euro1.2 billion) in the year ended 30 Nov. 2005.
The South Pacific nation currently is negotiating free trade deals with China and Malaysia and will shortly sign off an agreement linking it with Chile, Singapore and Brunei.
