On June 26, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with Minister of Trade and Export Growth of New Zealand Damien O’Conner, who was accompanying Prime Minister of New Zealand Chris Hipkins on a state visit to China. The two sides had a candid and professional discussion on advancing bilateral trade and economic relations and stepping up regional and multilateral cooperation.

Wang said that in recent years, China and New Zealand, under the guidance of their leaders, have demonstrated enterprise to promote the China-New Zealand comprehensive strategic partnership. “China is expanding high-standard opening-up, as part of the comprehensive endeavor of Chinese-style modernization. This will create opportunities for all countries, including New Zealand. Taking the opportunity of our leaders’ meeting, China is ready to work with New Zealand to promote balanced trade development and stay committed to high-quality implementation of the upgrading protocol of the China-New Zealand FTA to inject fresh impetus into bilateral economic and trade relations. China is also ready to step up exchange and cooperation with New Zealand at the WTO and APEC, and under the RCEP, CPTPP and DEPA.” Wang said.

Minister O’Conner said that New Zealand had long maintained sound trade and economic cooperation with China. The trade structures of the two countries are highly complementary, and the FTA has driven the rapid development of bilateral trade. Prime Minister Hipkins aims to strengthen the commercial ties with China during his visit, accompanied by a large trade delegation. New Zealand is ready to harness the complementary strengths to reinforce cooperation with China in agriculture and food security, among others, and improve communication and coordination under multilateral and regional mechanisms.