European Union - New Zealand Free Trade Agreement: Outline of ambition and scope of future negotiations
New Zealand Foreign Affairs & Trade | May 2017
European Union - New Zealand Free Trade Agreement: Outline of ambition and scope of future negotiations
In a joint statement in October 2015, New Zealand and European Union (EU) leaders confirmed their commitment to start the process towards a deep, comprehensive, and high quality Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The EU and New Zealand are close partners who share core values, common interests and a growing and mutually beneficial trade and economic relationship. Establishing a modern framework for stronger economic connections through an FTA (the Agreement) will support the continued growth and development of this relationship. New Zealand and the EU also share a vision of driving economic progress in a way that protects the environment, tackling issues such as climate change and contributing to better living conditions.
To this end, joint scoping discussions were launched at the start of 2016 and were completed in March 2017. Both sides expect to be in a position to launch formal negotiations in 2017. The scoping discussions covered, at a high level, the shared ambition for some key issues often addressed in trade negotiations. These issues will be discussed in specific detail in formal negotiations.
This document describes the outcomes of these discussions and includes a Question and Answer section which provides some more detailed information on certain issues. This information is intended to provide a basis for engagement with the New Zealand public in the early stages of EU-New Zealand FTA negotiations, in line with the government’s commitment to increased transparency and engagement as part of the recently released Trade Agenda 2030.
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