CHINA-US AGREEMENT GREAT NEWS FOR NEW ZEALAND

The China-United States agreement on WTO entry is great news for New Zealand, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley said today.

"New Zealand has for many years supported China's entry into the World Trade Organisation.

"We were the first Western nation to reach an accession agreement with China in 1997. As Chair of APEC we worked to see strengthened support for China's entry from this year's APEC Leaders' meeting.

"We were pleased to host the September Summit meeting between Presidents Clinton and Jiang where they resumed top level contacts on WTO accession.

The China US Agreement was globally significant, Mrs Shipley said.

"The world needs China's full participation in the international economy. Lower trade barriers and increased market access are good for New Zealand given the already deep trade links we have developed with China.

"We look forward to further rapid progress on China's entry into the WTO as negotiations are concluded with other trading partners

"New Zealand is making continued progress in resolving administrative difficulties in China which have affected our wool exports this year. Talks in Beijing last week made good progress on the release of quotas to enable the resumption of normal export volumes," Mrs Shipley said.