Friday, March 29, 2024

Ministers to shore up trade

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Government ministers are on the move this week to shore up trade ties as well as military relationships as Britain prepares to leave the European Union and tensions between the United States and Iran continue to simmer.
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A free-trade agreement with the United Kingdom will top Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s agenda as he heads to Europe while Defence Minister Ron Mark travels to Canada and the US, two of the Five Eyes members. 

“Our Government is pursuing an active trade agenda and we are confident the UK is a partner with whom we can negotiate an ambitious agreement at an early stage following the UK’s exit from the EU,” Parker said. 

He will meet Trade Secretary Liz Truss in London.

Last week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Among other things they committed to working together to strengthen the bilateral relationship including an ambitious free-trade deal, a statement from Johnson’s office said.

Parker will then head to Davos as a panelist at the World Economic Forum. He will also hold bilateral meetings with trade counterparts and attend meetings on agricultural trade liberalisation and World Trade Organisation reform.

“These engagements are critical as WTO members prepare for the next WTO ministerial conference in Kazakhstan in June.

“With the effectiveness of the WTO under threat we must ensure the multilateral trading system is revitalised and can continue to effectively underpin global growth, helping to create jobs and alleviate poverty,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal said the US administration has managed to effectively cripple the WTO dispute-resolution system by not approving new judges.

Mark, meanwhile, will meet Canadian National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. The meeting takes place after tensions flared in the wake of a US drone strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani at the Baghdad airport and retaliation by Iran. 

“There are clear areas of alignment between our respective governments and commonality across security, defence and multilateral interests,” Mark said. – BusinessDesk

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