Business needs to be Involved in Indian Trade Negs

Business needs to be Involved in Indian Trade Negotiations

The Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce congratulates the Government for the progress made toward initiating a Free Trade Agreement between India and New Zealand and urges that business be closely involved in the process from here.

“We strongly support the strengthening trade relationship with India and are pleased with the progress made towards initiating an FTA as reported yesterday,” said Chamber Chief Executive Charles Finny.

“We congratulate Phil Goff and his officials for the good work to-date in pursuing the FTA and in particular the terms of reference for the joint study group to examine its feasibility.

“An FTA with India covering all goods, all modes of services and investment would be hugely beneficial to New Zealand but we believe it would be more robust and relevant if business were closely involved in the process at the early stages. For this reason we hope that business can be closely involved in the process. Ideally business should be represented on that joint study group.

“The business communities in both New Zealand and India have taken steps to improve that engagement and the trade flows are improving. It is crucial that the government negotiators are fully aware of the intricacies of the trading relationship, the barriers faced by business and other impediments to expanding trade from the business perspective.

"We are keen to contribute positively to this exercise”, Mr Finny concluded.

ENDS

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