On 26 Jan., China and New Zealand signed the “Protocol between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of New Zealand on the Upgrading of the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of New Zealand (中华人民共和国政府与新西兰政府关于升级<中华人民共和国政府与新西兰政府自由贸易协定>的议定书).
For the trade of goods, the Protocol adds the market opening for certain wood and paper products and further optimizes trade rules like rules of origin, technical barriers to trade and customs facilitation. For service trade, on the basis of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, China further expands its opening-up to New Zealand in areas of aviation, education, finance, elderly care and passenger transport. For investment, New Zealand lowers its thresholds for reviewing Chinese investment and confirms to grant Chinese investment the same review treatment as members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). For rules, both sides pledge to enhance cooperation in areas of e-commerce, competition policy, government procurement, environment and trade.
The China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement signed in April 2008 was implemented on 1 Oct. 2008. In November 2016, the two sides initiated negotiations on the upgrading of the FTA. In November 2019, the two sides announced the conclusion of negotiations on the upgrading.
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
