Trade deal in Asia ‘still achievable’

The Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth heads to Bangkok this week for an additional round of talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and said a deal by November is still achievable.

“It’s achievable but only if urgency and momentum build between now and the end of the year,” Damien O’Connor said.

Sixteen countries are involved in the RCEP talks: the 10 members of Asean and the six nations that have free-trade agreements with the regional bloc.

The 16 states have a total population of more than 3.5 billion and account for about 28 per cent of global trade. In the year to March 2018, they took about 59 per cent of New Zealand goods exports and 52.1 per cent of NZ’s services exports — a combined value of more than $45 billion, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Major benefits for NZ could include the end of tariffs into India on products of key export interest and better market access for Kiwi businesses in a range of key Asian countries. Negotiations have been under way since 2012.

Participants decided last month on an extra round of talks, and leaders aim to announce the conclusion of negotiations next month.

“An accommodation between the big economies will be key. New Zealand is confident that all 16 participants are committed to realising the value of RCEP this year,” said O’Connor (right).

In addition to the direct commercial benefits, a successful RCEP would have significant strategic value, he said.

In Asean are Brunei-Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The other countries involved are Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand.

At a time of considerable turbulence in international trade policy — the sharpest rise in protectionism since 1995, erosion of support for the multilateral trading system, increasing unilateralism — regional integration initiatives such as RCEP become increasingly valuable, O’Connor said.