New Zealand, Malaysia Discuss TPP

New Zealand’s trade minister has been discussing the ongoing Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations as part of a Malaysian trade visit.

During his trip, Tim Groser supported a business delegation and discussed trade issues with Malaysian Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Mustapa Mohamed.

The two ministers covered the next phase of TPP talks, an initiative which aims at creating a regional free trade agreement involving nine Asia Pacific countries. The countries are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, the US, Vietnam and New Zealand.

According to the New Zealand government, negotiating the TPP offers an opportunity to shape future trade liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region in line with the high quality benchmarks set by the original Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (P4) Agreement. This earlier agreement was designed to create a model that could potentially attract new Asia Pacific members.

While in Kuala Lumpur, Groser also joined a 12-strong trade delegation led by Export New Zealand Chairman Sir Ken Stevens, and supported by the ASEAN NZ Combined Business Council. Groser visited branches of New Zealand companies operating in Malaysia and attended joint meetings with these companies and their Malaysian customers or business partners. He also opened the first meeting of the Malaysia-New Zealand Environment Committee.

Malaysia is New Zealand's second largest trading partner in the ten country Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is also the country's ninth largest export market and seventh largest source of New Zealand imports worldwide.

Source: Tax News