12 May 2006
New Zealand-China FTA negotiations continue next week
A further round of New Zealand-China FTA negotiations will take place in Queenstown next week (15-19 May).
This will be the seventh round of negotiations.
In Queenstown negotiators expect to cover the full range of issues of interest to New Zealand including goods and
related 'rules' issues (for example, rules of origin, trade remedies, sanitary and phyto-sanitary, technical barriers to
trade and customs), services, investment and intellectual property.
The New Zealand negotiating team will include representatives from 12 different agencies and is led by David Walker
(Principal Economic Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade).
Since the sixth negotiating round which was held in Beijing in early March, the negotiating team has undertaken a series
of consultations with interested stakeholders in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
This consultation will continue in June and take in some regional centres.
ENDS