Minister to visit China, Singapore and Japan

Trade Minister Tim Groser will depart tomorrow for Qingdao, China to represent the New Zealand Government at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) on 17-18 May.

APEC Trade Ministers will be focusing on priority areas including: regional economic integration, promoting innovative development, economic reform and growth, and strengthening comprehensive connectivity and infrastructure development.

“The MRT Meeting will provide the opportunity to promote New Zealand’s interests on a range of topics including on the important issue of advancing regional economic integration, more specifically on work towards the ‘Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.

“The Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific has been APEC's underlying vision for some time. It is important that we strive to make real and tangible progress towards realising this vision,” Mr Groser says.

Following China, Mr Groser will travel to Singapore for the latest Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Ministers’ Meeting scheduled to take place 19-20 May.

“The meeting will be an opportunity to build on progress made by TPP Ministers in February consistent with the objectives agreed by Leaders in Honolulu,” says Mr Groser.

From Singapore, Mr Groser will travel to Japan to represent New Zealand at the Nikkei International Conference in Tokyo. The theme for the forum is “the future of Asia”. Mr Groser will deliver a speech on a range of current global trade policy issues including free trade agreements, and New Zealand’s role in these.