NZ keeps pressure on Japan economic partnership
National Business Review | Tuesday October 14 2008
NZ keeps pressure on Japan economic partnership
by Sarah McDonald
New Zealand government representatives are still pushing for some form of free-trade agreement with Japan.
The 35th joint conference of the Japan New Zealand Business Council saw 95 delegates travel to Nelson last week for discussions on how to further strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
New Zealand’s roving trade ambassador, Jim Sutton, stressed the clear complementary nature of the two economies, saying that it seemed absolutely logical to actively pursue some kind of formal economic partnership arrangement or free trade agreement.
And New Zealand ambassador to Japan Ian Kennedy reiterated the importance of prioritising an agreement with Japan in the midst of a rapidly changing Asian Pacific economic picture.
Topics covered at the conference included strategies to revitalise the struggling tourism relationship: Japanese tourists, a cornerstone of the New Zealand tourism sector, have been heading elsewhere for their holidays due to the unfavourable exchange rate and high cost of long-haul travel.
Discussion of food-related issues included a presentation on research and market opportunities in aquaculture, food security and food safety issues, and how New Zealand and Japan can work together co-operatively to capture these opportunities.
Delegates visited New Zealand King Salmon, which exports much of its product to Japan, and Nelson Pine Industries, a subsidiary of giant Japanese corporation Sumitomo Forestry.
The company processes a million cubic metres of wood a year and is a major exporter with approximately 50% of its output produced for specific markets in Japan.
Prime Minister Helen Clark and then Japan Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced in May that a comprehensive study into a Japan-New Zealand FTA would be undertaken.
