Meeting with New Zealand's Trade Minister
Media release
30 June 2010
In my new capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, I met with New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser in Sydney last night.
Mr Groser is in Sydney to attend the Ministerial Council on International Trade (MCIT) today. Mr Groser will attend with State and Territory Ministers. Parliamentary Secretary for Trade Anthony Byrne will represent the Commonwealth.
The trade and economic relationship between Australia and New Zealand is a most important one for both countries.
Two-way trans-Tasman trade exceeded $20 billion in 2009, and accumulated investment stands at over $90 billion.
Our two Governments are now working closely to build on that relationship to create an even more integrated trans-Tasman economy.
I welcome the steps taken at the meeting between Australian and New Zealand Trade Ministers in Canberra earlier this month to finalise a Closer Economic Relations (CER) Investment Protocol as a significant further development in integrating the two economies.
This investment agreement will be an important addition to the CER trade agreement, the centrepiece of the trans-Tasman economic relationship.
The Protocol will put in place a framework to further liberalise trans-Tasman investment and enhance trans-Tasman investor certainty.
Mr Groser's attendance at his first MCIT meeting also underlines the increasing integration of the Australian and New Zealand economies.
Media inquiries
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