NZ-Malaysia to look at possible trade deal
Stuff | New Zealand
NZ-Malaysia to look at possible trade deal
06 September 2004
New Zealand and Malaysia have agreed to undertake scoping studies on a possible free trade deal, Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton said yesterday.
Mr Sutton is in Jakarta for a meeting of Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) ministers.
While there, he has had a round of bilateral meetings including one with Malaysian trade minister Rafidah Aziz.
Mr Sutton told NZPA that Mr Rafidah had reacted "very positively" to the idea of exploring a bilateral free trade agreement with New Zealand.
"We have agreed that we will undertake separate studies over the next six months.
"If the studies show benefits, we should then move to negotiations...," he said.
Australia and Malaysia made a similar agreement to carry out scoping studies for a possible free trade agreement about a week ago.
"It’s very encouraging that Malaysia is viewing the prospects of a bilateral agreement with New Zealand in a positive light," Mr Sutton said.
"They are our biggest trading partner in Asean."
Aside from pushing New Zealand’s dairy products, Mr Sutton also indicated export education would be on the agenda.
He said both countries were interested in services between the two.
"We have traditionally had quite a number of Malaysian students coming to New Zealand but we have tended to lose market share a bit as other countries have moved into that as well in recent years, so that’s certainly an area where we could strengthen things up."
Economic and trade ministers from Australia, New Zealand and the 10-member Asean are at the meeting in Jakarta.
Asean, Australia and New Zealand trade ministers have reached agreement on terms to recommend to their leaders for initiating a free trade agreement.
In April, Asean proposed launching free trade talks with Australia and New Zealand and a final decision on whether to begin negotiations will be made at the Asean leaders’ summit in Laos in late November.
Prime Minister Helen Clark plans going to that meetings.
A spokeswoman for Mr Sutton said the Government would undertake a round of consultation with industry and other stakeholders about such an agreement.
Asean consists of Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia.
Mr Sutton told NZPA the decision by the Asean, Australian and New Zealand ministers on terms to take to leaders recommending they start negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) was a major and necessary step towards regional economic integration.
Leaders meet on November 30 and ministers felt the negotiations could be completed in two years, he said.
Mr Sutton said the combined economies of the countries would be almost as large as China’s economy so it made for a significant trading block.
"The combined economies of the total group would be about a trillion US dollars.
"Quite a number of our top 10 trading partners are within the ranks of Asean.
"Economic integration within our region - and we are of course geographically part of Southeast Asia - is very desirable, both in the long term view for reasons of security and stability as well as for trade," he said.
Such regional economic integration would be "historic" he said.
The minister said officials from all the countries would carry out ongoing analysis of the potential free trade agreement so that leaders would be well equipped to discuss the issue when they met in November.
While it was always possible a country might not want to proceed, Mr Sutton said he was sure it was "all systems go".
"I’m very confident about it. It is absolutely the right thing for us to be doing.
"This is a major economic development."
Mr Sutton returns to New Zealand this afternoon.
