New Zealand minister: Trade deal with EU set global example on sustainability

The sustainable food system chapter in the recently signed EU-New Zealand trade agreement should become an example for the rest of the world, New Zealand’s agriculture and trade minister Damien O’Connor told EURACTIV.

The deal, which was 14 years in the making including four years of negotiations, is the first ever to include the new EU approach towards trade and sustainable development, in which trade partners agree to follow internationally recognised environmental and social standards.

“We see the value of setting an example for the rest of the world when it comes to trade,” O’Connor told EURACTIV when asked about the sustainable food chapter in the deal.

“The greatest value of the trade agreement between the EU and New Zealand was the standards that we have set across many areas of government procurement, environmental goods and services transfer, animal welfare and labour standards,” he said.

The text does not contain binding commitments but the pledge of both parties to cooperate together, both at bilateral and multilateral levels, to promote sustainable food systems.

The topics of this cooperation range from pre-production methods to the efficient use of natural resources, including also the environmental climate impacts of food production.

Signed last July, the free trade deal ripped up much of the remaining tariffs between the EU and New Zealand while keeping the protection of the entire list of geographical indications for wine and spirits.

A further 63 geographical indications (GIs) for European foodstuffs will be protected immediately at the beginning of the entry into force of the agreement, while a clause will allow expanding the list every three years to gradually protect the over 1,400 European GIs currently remaining.

“This trade agreement brings major opportunities for our companies, our farmers and our consumers, on both sides,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said back when the deal was announced.

Animal welfare chapter

Agricultural products were, as usual, a contentious part of the negotiations. Dairy and beef were particularly ‘challenging areas’, according to O’Connor.

Another important component of the deal is the chapter dedicated to animal welfare, which aims to enhance the already existing cooperation on the matter while recognising that the practices of the two parties differ.

For instance, New Zealand will implement a complete ban on live animal exports from April 2023, while there is no such EU-wide provision on that.

After the deal was signed, an EU official explained to EURACTIV that “the starting point” to reach a deal on this chapter “was that no one can point to the other as having a superior animal welfare system.”

“We committed to the highest standards of food production that we hope will flow onto other trade agreements in other countries’ practice,” New Zealand’s minister O’Connor stressed.

Food security at COP27

O’Connor also co-chaired last week’s agriculture ministerial meeting at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which gathered 48 farming ministers in Paris to discuss global food security and sustainable food production.

Commenting on the summit’s final declaration, he pointed out the “determination to show unity in the face of conflict, and the challenges of climate change and food security.”

Asked about food security in light of the war in Ukraine, the minister said that the challenge in the short term is “making sure that there are no unnecessary trade barriers to the movement of food to address the shortages created by the conflict in Ukraine.”

The minister also emphasised the challenge of climate change, in particular how it is “impacting adversely on many food producers, farmers and in different countries” by destroying the crops and livelihoods of farmers.

This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be addressing agriculture and food systems for the first time ever, with an entire day (12 November) devoted to the subject.

O’Connor expects OECD countries to “remind participants at COP27 that food security is, first and foremost a humanitarian issue that must be addressed.”

According to the minister, “to ensure that people are fed is important when it comes to enabling them to address the issues of emissions reduction, and giving them the tools to do so.”

Technology and information sharing are also perceived as powerful tools to reduce emissions. For that, it is important to “attract and retain people in our food production systems, and giving them the skills to use the technology as we go forward,” he said.

The challenge is that this requires infrastructure such as broadband, technology and access to capital to purchase it.

“Ensuring capital flows and capital availability is just as important as supporting young people in rewarding them in food production systems and agriculture,” he concluded.

Source: EURACTIV