Brussels, 16/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - During his visit to Brussels on Monday 15 February, New Zealand's Minister for Trade Todd McClay reviewed progress with European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström on the preparatory work towards talks for an EU-New Zealand free trade agreement.
“An EU-New Zealand free trade agreement would mutually benefit economic growth and productivity and support New Zealand businesses - particularly SMEs”, McClay stated after his meetings with Malmström and European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen.
These meetings in Brussels - where McClay also met Daniel Caspary MEP (EPP, Germany) who is in charge of EU-New Zealand relations for the European Commission's international trade committee - “showed continued shared interest in commencing negotiations as soon as the relevant EU processes are completed”, McClay said.
He added that he and Malmström had agreed on the importance of stakeholder consultations in the process of the future free trade negotiations, and said that an initial round of consultations would be completed in New Zealand at the end of February.
It was at the meeting of their leaders in Brussels on 29 October 2015 that the EU and New Zealand committed to launching the process for bilateral free trade negotiations.
On the EU side, Malmström had said at the end of October that an impact analysis would be conducted with a view to proposing member states a mandate to launch the negotiations within 18 months.
According to figures from the European Commission, bilateral trade in goods stood at €7.9 billion in 2014 (including €4.5 billion in exports for the EU) and trade in services stood at €3.6 billion in 2013 (including €2.2 billion in exports for the EU).
At the end of 2013, the EU's foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in New Zealand stood at €7.5 billion, and that of New Zealand in the EU stood at €1.8 billion. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)