New Zealand has proposed a special agricultural co-operation chapter should be injected into the free trade agreement (FTA) with the Russian-led customs union to help overcome fears by Russian farmers. Trade Minister Tim Groser dispatched New Zealand’s chief negotiator Vangelis Vitalis to Moscow this week to make progress on issues blocking the successful completion of the FTA with Russia and …
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Groser going for top WTO job
Trade Minister Tim Groser will throw his hat into the ring for the top international trade job – director-general of the World Trade Organisation. Groser has yet to formally announce his candidacy for the leading role in international trade diplomacy. He was due to leave New Zealand today for trade talks in Cambodia and Vladivostock, but has confirmed to the …
Read More »Much at stake in Crafar court ruling
It was hard to suppress the image of a black-singleted John Clarke singing, “If it weren’t for your gumboots, where would ya be?” when I took part in a Federated Farmers debate on foreign ownership. The proposition that “if foreigners want to own dairy farms in New Zealand, they should put on their gumboots and come and live here”, got …
Read More »Fonterra – Another step, but road ahead looks rocky
Fonterra’s top brass emerged from their Monday board meeting claiming a clear mandate to proceed with the controversial trading among farmers (TAF) scheme. It’s going to take a lot of work to rebuild trust between the Fonterra board and management, and many of their farmer shareholders if TAF is to be bedded down without more public brawling. A week before …
Read More »DFAT: Eighth Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum looks at bilateral opportunities in “Asian Century.”
The Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF) is a business-led initiative designed to further develop the Australian and New Zealand bilateral relationship as well as joint relations in the region. The ANZLF brings together ministers and leaders of business, government and academia to create an independent public platform for consideration of the whole Australia New Zealand relationship. The inaugural forum …
Read More »INZBC Hosts India-NZ FTA negotiators
The India-NZ FTA discussions have progressed to round 7 when a team led by J Dadoo, Joint Secretary, India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry met their NZ counterparts led by Nigel Fyfe from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). After a gruelling few days of discussions in Wellington, the team headed to Auckland where they visited some businesses …
Read More »Kelsey acolyte: “Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement” or “Toxic Profiteers Plunder Aotearoa”?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is a “free trade” currently under negotiation between NZ and 8 other countries, including the U.S. The countries want to complete negotiation by the end of 2011. Trade is only a minor part of the agreement. That’s just a clever branding exercise. A TPPA would be an agreement that guarantees special rights to foreign investors. …
Read More »Where now for New Zealand trade?
Nearly two weeks after the Cancun debacle the full extent of this latest crisis in global governance is starting to sink in. It is too early to say with confidence that the historic new G21 coalition of developing countries that Brazil has stitched together will become a permanent force in World Trade Organisation politics, ending the effective duopoly of the …
Read More »Billion-dollar blow to NZ trade
CANCUN – Amid the wreckage of world trade talks last night New Zealand’s negotiating minister, Jim Sutton, refused to play the blame game. The failure was a “collective disgrace”, he said. But there was still sufficient meat on the bones of a draft negotiating framework to give him comfort New Zealand’s interests would not be harmed immediately. The European Union …
Read More »US acknowledges flinty academic deserves respect
Shanghai Prime Minister Helen Clark’s strong backing for the American war on terrorism won her and New Zealand new respect at the Apec conference. After just four days at Shanghai, she is now looking like an emerging Asia-Pacific leader and power player. She has shed, in United States eyes, her image as a flinty anti-American academic and joined the ranks …
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