Asia Pacific

Gower: Barack Obama yesterday called Vladimir Putin a threat to the world. Do you agree with that? Key: Potentially. If you look at what’s happening in Ukraine and the wider, sort of, Eastern Bloc and the, you know, potential motivations and intentions, it’s a very serious situation, and I think that’s why you are seeing countries respond, and I think …

Trade Minister Tim Groser  welcomed the announcement on the successful conclusion of negotiations with the Republic of Korea on a Free Trade Agreement. “Korea is one of New Zealand’s biggest and most important trading partners,” says  Groser.  “The FTA will deliver real economic benefits for both our countries. It will create more opportunities for our business and will deliver cheaper products …

New Zealand will ink an economic cooperation agreement with Taiwan in Wellington tomorrow evening completing a triumvirate of  FTAs with China and its satellites: Hong Kong and Taiwan. NZ will be the first Western nation to triangulate the trade relationship with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Singapore – which like NZ is understood to have agreed the guts of the …

May 19–21 saw several hundred delegates from across the United States and New Zealand gather in Washington for the biannual U.S.-New Zealand Pacific Partnership Forum. The forum, organized by the United States–New Zealand Council, has been instrumental in helping to normalize relations between the two countries, which had cooled significantly following New Zealand’s 1985 ban on nuclear-powered or nuclear weapons-capable …

The real value of the Future Partners delegation was not so much the tokenism of young faces in the room or additional youthful enthusiasm in the Q&A, but in the real crux of knowledge transfer and succession planning. Being chosen as one of eight under 30 year olds by Fulbright New Zealand and the US NZ Council as a ‘future …

Foreign Minister Murray McCully spoke to the US-NZ Pacific Partnership forum yesterday setting the scene with a speech focused on bilateralism. Thank you for being here. It’s great to be back in Washington, and to see so many friends of New Zealand here today. I attended the first of these forums in April 2006 and each subsequent gathering. I want …

Japan has been welcomed into the TPP negotiations says NZ Trade Minister Tim Groser. “We believe that Japan’s participation in the negotiations will contribute to the objective of creating a 21st-Century agreement that will spur economic growth and development, promote innovation, benefit our consumers, and support the creation and retention of jobs, higher living standards and the reduction of poverty …

Fonterra Brands Malaysia’s launch of Mainland Cheese in Malaysia signals the strengthening trade links between New Zealand and South-East Asia, Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce says. Joyce today launched the Mainland Cheese brand at a New Zealand Gala event in Kuala Lumpur. “Over the last five years, Fonterra Brands Malaysia’s business in South East Asia has doubled, which shows …

  My assessment of the meeting is that the business leaders from Japan were very supportive of TPP in principle as a means of boosting Japan’s economic growth, but are aware of the practical challenges around joining this year. They were realistic about the political challenges that PM Abe faces from domestic interests such as agriculture but were generally optimistic …

SAME OLD SAME OLD IN JAPAN .  According to exit polls the Liberal Democratic Party has won a large majority in Japan ’s parliamentary elections. The return of Shinzo Abe marks Japan ’s seventh PM in fewer than seven years. Watch for a potential increase in tensions with China as Abe has talked tough regarding the disputed islands. The LDP has …