New Zealand-European Union FTA
The NZ-EU FTA, concluded on 30 June, is now undergoing legal verification and, after that, will be translated into the EU’s 23 official languages. The FTA will need to be agreed by Ministerial representatives from each of the 27 Member States, and approved by the European Parliament, in order to enter into force. But it will not need to be ratified by each of the individual Member States (making it a simpler process than some of the EU’s other FTAs). That said, ratification may not be easy, and there is already opposition to the deal from some in the EU’s agricultural sector. If domestic processes are progress smoothly on both the EU and New Zealand side, the FTA could be signed by mid-2023, and come into effect in 2024.
New Zealand-United Kingdom FTA
New Zealand’s Parliamentary Select Committee for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade has, again, requested submissions on the United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Legislation Bill (see here, closing August 21st) – the Bill went through its first reading in July.
We’re still expecting to complete domestic processes needed to bring the deal into force before the end of the year, but keeping a close eye on the UK process to ratify the deal on their end.
Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
Negotiators of the IPEF deal were able to join together in July to discuss the four pillars. We’re expecting the negotiations to begin in September, but we are not expecting a significant deal given the low level of ambition from some of the partners.
We submitted to MFAT our thoughts on IPEF and encouraged them to push for a more ambitious deal, particularly in terms of market access.
For ExportNZ, the goal for New Zealand is to keep the conversation on-going and to keep the door open for future discussions regarding market access into the US.
Comprehensive & Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership
New Zealand will chair the CPTPP Commission next year with plenty going on.
The United Kingdom’s accession is progressing and having them join would significantly benefit the CPTPP. It’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top as the UK’s Prime Minister – given Liz Truss’ background as Foreign Secretary, as PM she could very well prioritise the UK’s accession into the deal.
Costa Rica has now formally applied to join CPTPP bringing the total number of applicant economies to five (Costa Rica, UK, China, Taiwan, Ecuador) . This growing momentum to join CPTPP from a number of economies and the UK’s accession, could create or renew interest in joining the Agreement from others.
Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relationship
Following on from a successful Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum in July, we’ve been talking to MFAT about the upcoming 40th anniversary of our Closer Economic Relations (CER). This is an opportunity to highlight the existing benefits of CER and to set some genuine ambition for the future of our joint economic interests.
