Please Contribute Here to help us Grow!
Our Free Trade Agreement with India has just been signed – opening up new opportunities in a market of 1.4 billion people in the fastest growing economy in the world.
For a trading nation like New Zealand, this is significant. One in four Kiwi jobs are tied to trade, and exports are a key driver of our economy. When we make it easier for New Zealand businesses to compete on the world stage, we create jobs, lift wages, and put more money in your back pockets.
This agreement reduces or removes tariffs on 95 per cent of our exports. From day one, more than half of New Zealand exports to India will be duty free, rising to 82 per cent over time.
That means products like Bay of Plenty kiwifruit, Central Otago wine, Southland wool and Marlborough mussels will reach more customers. More New Zealand products sold in India means more money flowing back into our communities.
Three years ago, National said we would deliver an FTA with India. People told us it couldn’t be done. Now, we are delivering a once-in-a-generation agreement that opens the door to one of the world’s largest markets.
Since coming into Government, exports have grown by more than $17 billion. We’ve concluded, signed and brought into force the New Zealand–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and finished negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Growing trade is the key to growing New Zealand’s economy.
National is focused on getting New Zealand out onto the world stage and securing more trade deals, because when New Zealand sells more to the world, Kiwi families are better off.
It has also just hit the two-year mark since the signing of the NZ–EU Free Trade Agreement came into force, and it is already delivering strong results. Exports to the EU are up more than $3 billion in just two years.
When we make it easier for New Zealand businesses to compete internationally, they’re able to sell more of their products offshore. That means more money flowing back into New Zealand, which helps businesses invest, create jobs, lift wages, and put more money in people’s back pockets.
More trade and exports mean businesses are selling more, hiring more people, and paying higher wages. It means more work on farms and orchards, more shifts in factories, more freight through our ports, and more local businesses with the confidence to grow.
We’re seeing that growth in the areas New Zealand does best, kiwifruit exports are up nearly a third to $1.2 billion, meat exports up 38 per cent to $1.95 billion, and dairy exports up 58 per cent.
And finally, let me tell you about the latest thing National is doing to secure fuel for your community.
In Singapore this week we signed an ‘Essential Supplies’ agreement that protects fuel supply coming into NZ.
We live in a volatile world. The last few months have shown us that NZ is not immune to other countries’ actions. You see it every time you go to fill up the car.
The agreement means that even when the world is facing major upheaval – Singapore will not stop providing New Zealand with petrol and diesel, and New Zealand will continue to keep food flowing in return.
It’s important because around a third of NZ’s fuel is refined in Singapore.
This is just the latest in our plan to secure fuel supply for New Zealand – alongside building further storage and investing in additional reserves so that we can protect Kiwis from the upheaval in the Middle East. -Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand