NZPA Thursday August 28 2008
New Zealand and Australia have successfully completed free-trade negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
The announcement of a deal came in a statement today during annual talks by economic ministers of the 10-member Asean.
NZPA understands the deal includes the eventual elimination of tariffs on New Zealand's meat and dairy exports and could be signed by the end of the year.
It is understood there are still some outstanding issues between some of the other countries, but it was hoped they would be worked out at a bilateral level before the deal was signed.
A sean economies, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia, represent a market of more than 575 million people.
The bloc represents a global total trade of over $NZ2010 billion and was New Zealand's third largest export market for merchandise goods in the year to June 2008 -- worth $4.6 billion.
New Zealand and Australia have successfully completed free-trade negotiations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
The announcement of a deal came in a statement today during annual talks by economic ministers of the 10-member Asean.
NZPA understands the deal includes the eventual elimination of tariffs on New Zealand's meat and dairy exports and could be signed by the end of the year.
It is understood there are still some outstanding issues between some of the other countries, but it was hoped they would be worked out at a bilateral level before the deal was signed.
A sean economies, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia, represent a market of more than 575 million people.
The bloc represents a global total trade of over $NZ2010 billion and was New Zealand's third largest export market for merchandise goods in the year to June 2008 -- worth $4.6 billion.
New Zealand's trade with the region has been growing at 24 percent per year for the past three years.
Trade Minister Phil Goff has previously said the benefits of the deal are not only economic. It also meets New Zealand's strategic goal of being an integral part of the regionalisation under way in the Asia-Pacific area.
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