Call to be more ambitious in future RCEP negotiations
Hon Todd McClay
Minister of Trade
19 June
2016
Media Statement
Call to be more ambitious in future RCEP negotiations
Trade Minister Todd McClay is urging trade negotiators to be more adventurous and ambitious, warning the government will only sign up to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) if it delivers tangible benefits for New Zealand.
His comments come following the conclusion of this week's RCEP negotiation in Auckland.
Earlier this week, Mr McClay welcomed more than 500 trade delegates in Auckland for the latest round of negotiations and challenged them to make real progress in their negotiations.
“I’m pleased to see negotiators have intensified their efforts during the round of negotiations that has just finished but much more remains to be done if RCEP is to be concluded by the end of this year,” Mr McClay says.
"There has been good progress this week on ways to address non-tariff measures and Rules of Origin. These are two areas are of particular concern to New Zealand businesses, including the forestry and wood processing industry, and have the potential to be beneficial to all our exporters," he says.
The next round of negotiations will be held in Laos in September.
Mr McClay says the RCEP public meeting in Auckland this week, which was also live-streamed over the Internet, had been useful.
"I'm grateful to all participants and have committed to continue to look for better ways to engage on the importance of trade.
“This week I will be meeting with civil society representatives in Auckland to talk about how we might better include them and the business community in the trade negotiation process," Mr McClay says.
ends