NZ-China trade talks on track

New Zealand remains on track to be the first developed state to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with China after completing a "business-end" round of talks, a senior official said yesterday.

The ninth round of talks - "the longest and most complex" - was completed at the weekend, said the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Overall, we are continuing to make good progress," he said.

The talks had got to the rule-making stage for goods and services.

Experts from both countries had thrashed out details on such issues as rules of origin and market access for goods and services.

The official said the talks were on track for completion between April 2007 and April 2008.

New Zealand in 2004 was the first developed country to announce it would sign an FTA with the world's most populous state.

Australia and Iceland are the two other developed nations currently negotiating an FTA with China, but the official said New Zealand was still ahead in the race for completion.

He said the bureaucrats had received strong political backing, particularly after the visit to New Zealand in April of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

The experts had been given a brief to produce a "balanced, high quality" deal, and last week's talks worked over what each side understood by those two terms.

The official said as they got further into detail the talks got tougher, which was a natural part of the negotiating process.

- NZPA