2023-07-09 17:23:07
The European Union (EU) and New Zealand they signed this sunday a free trade agreement with which they aspire to increase their commercial exchanges by 30% thanks to the elimination of tariffs on exports and the greater opening of its service markets.
“It’s a very ambitious and very balanced free trade agreement. I think it provides a lot of opportunities for our respective companies,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a press conference with New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. , before the signing in Brussels.
The agreement, concluded in 2022 after four years of negotiations, will eliminate all tariffs on exports from the EU to New Zealand, which consist mainly of manufactured goods, while the EU bloc will remove them for the vast majority of New Zealand exports, especially agricultural products.
Bilateral trade in goods between the two amounted to 9.1 billion euros in 2022 and that of services to 3,500 million in 2021, while the investments of the EU in New Zealand reached 9,300 million and those of this country in the Twenty-seven the 4,300 million, according to the latest figures published by the Community Executive.
Brussels hopes that with this agreement EU exports to New Zealand can increase up to 4,500 million euros per yearEuropean investments grow by 80%, and the bloc’s companies save 140 million euros a year, as explained by the vice-president of the Commission responsible for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis.
Once ratified by both parties and enters into force, the pact will also lead to the opening of the New Zealand services market for European firms in sectors such as financial services, telecommunications o maritime transportand an improvement in its access to the country’s public tenders market, valued at around 60,000 million euros a year.
For its part, New Zealand estimates that the agreement with which this Sunday is its third trading partner will allow it to increase its exports to the EU by 1,800 million dollars a year (1,640 million euros), as explained by the New Zealand Minister of Commerce, Damien O’Connor, at a press conference.
In the agri-food chapter, sensitive for the EU given the strength of New Zealand, in addition to the elimination of all tariffs on European exports, the agreement protects all European wines and spirits and other products with designation of originsuch as Rioja wine or Manchego cheese.
Likewise, for some products that worried the Europeans, such as dairy products, beef and sheep meat, ethanol or corn, the volume of New Zealand imports that can benefit from the reduction of tariffs will be limited.
On the other hand, the agreement includes for the first time sustainability commitments and requires compliance with the Paris Climate Agreementeven foreseeing sanctions if it is not respected, in line with the new approach adopted by the EU to promote sustainability also through its commercial relations.
“There are pioneering results in climate change and the Paris Agreement and important commitments in other areas, including labor rights, gender equality or subsidies that are harmful to the environment,” said the New Zealand prime minister, who emphasized the “shared commitment” of both sides with human rights, global security or international rules-based system.
This cooperation also includes the agreement, also signed today, for New Zealand to participate in the Horizon Europe community research and innovation programme, which will mobilize some 100,000 million euros over seven years, as well as the pact for the country to cooperate with Europol, in force from today.
“These agreements bring the EU and New Zealand even closer. Despite being a world apart we have much in common“, said von der Leyen, who thanked New Zealand for aligning itself with the European sanctions against Russia and its support for Ukraine despite being at the antipodes.
“From the Russian war in Ukraine to rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, the geopolitical environment is increasingly changing and uncertain. All the more reason for like-minded partners to strengthen our ties to address the different risks,” he added.
#Elimination #tariffs #Zealand #sign #free #trade #agreement