The fifth round of Free Trade Agreement Negotiations with New
Zealand took place between 8-16 June 2021. New Zealand’s Trade
and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor also visited the UK
from 16-18 June for face-to-face talks. Both countries have
agreed to accelerate negotiations to finalise the details of the
deal with the aim of reaching agreement in principle.
Both countries are committed to agreeing a high quality,
comprehensive free trade agreement that supports jobs, broadens
consumer choice, and provides more opportunities in key
industries such as services, digital trade, and the green
economy.
Strong progress was made in agreeing key issues across the deal
including provisionally closing a further four chapters:
- Government Procurement chapter, which improves Small
Medium-sized Enterprises’ (SMEs’) access to procurement and the
integrity of supply chains.
- Disputes Chapter, which establishes mechanisms to promote and
enforce compliance with the agreement and ensures that
state-to-state disputes are dealt with consistently, fairly and
in a cost-effective, transparent, and timely manner. It gives
businesses and stakeholders certainty that the obligations under
this agreement will be upheld.
- Transparency chapter, which underscores the rule of law as
the major cornerstone of good governance, outlining agreed
expectations for the UK and New Zealand to be transparent, open,
and accessible to UK businesses, with respect to this trade
agreement and their respective regulatory environments.
- Trade and Gender Equality chapter, which recognises that
women are underrepresented in international trade, and aims to
support women exporters, business owners, and entrepreneurs to
participate in global trade.
Excellent progress was also made during Round 5 on the following
chapters, which the UK and New Zealand agree now have a clear
path to closure:
- Rules of Origin
- Goods
- Cross-Border Trade in Services
- Customs
- Digital
- Telecoms
- State Owned Enterprises
- Consumer Protection
- Good Regulatory Practice
- Labour
- Development
- Anti-Corruption
- Initial & Final Provisions
- General Exceptions
- Institutional Provisions
In previous rounds, chapters on SMEs, Competition, Remedies were
provisionally closed.
The Government has been clear that any future deal with New
Zealand must work for UK consumers, producers, and companies.
Throughout the process the UK will continue to engage
stakeholders to ensure their views inform our approach to
negotiations.
Any deal the UK agrees will be fair and balanced and in the best
interests of the whole of the country. We remain committed to
upholding our high environmental, labour, food safety and animal
welfare standards in the deal, as well as protecting the National
Health Service (NHS).
The UK and New Zealand both remain eager to make further
progress, with the UK clear that momentum needs to be maintained
across the whole agreement. Ahead of the next round, negotiating
teams will share further proposals and discuss a range of issues.
The next round of negotiations, Round 6, is scheduled to take
place in July, with a series of intersessional discussions across
the FTA planned for the next month.
