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Customs Minister Maurice Williamson announced today that New Zealand Customs has opened a dedicated lane for United States Global Entry programme members at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airports.

The lane will streamline and speed up the arrival process for Global Entry members entering New Zealand on a United States passport.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says a concerted effort to choke off the supply of methamphetamine precursor drugs is paying dividends.

More than 1.2 tonnes of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine was captured by Customs in 921 seizures in 2009 – which was a record high.

“In the first nine months of this year just over 300 kilograms was intercepted in 264 seizures,” Mr Williamson says.

New Zealand and China Customs have agreed to work more closely together to combat the smuggling of pharmaceutical products used to manufacture methamphetamine (‘P’). 

The agreement is the result of talks between Chinese officials and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson during a two-day visit by China Customs.

The two customs administrations are also committed to continuing work to advance further growth in trade.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says the two-day visit by the China Customs Vice Minister, Mr Lu Peijun, is an opportunity to further strengthen the connection New Zealand has with China in all areas of customs activity.

"As our largest supplier and our second largest export market, our trade relationship with China is important. New Zealand Customs has an excellent working relationship with China Customs and we appreciate their willingness to work cooperatively with us on issues specific to New Zealand's trade.";

The four-millionth passenger passed through SmartGate this week (Thursday), highlighting the on-going popularity of the technology with New Zealand and Australian ePassport holders.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says since its introduction in 2009 the popularity of SmartGate has grown rapidly, and the uptake in New Zealand is higher than in Australia.

EA major exercise in Auckland today has shown New Zealand’s preparedness for dealing with a mass arrival of asylum seekers by boat, according to Immigration Minister Nathan Guy and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson.

Exercise Barrier has seen around 100 role players acting as potentially illegal immigrants being processed through health, customs and immigration checks following their simulated arrival by boat.

• Good morning everyone, it is a pleasure to be here today.

Background
• We live in a changing world, and there has been an extraordinary shift in relative economic power from the developed world, our traditional trade and investment partners, to the emerging economies - particularly China.

• Many analysts have pointed out that this is simply a reversion to the past. Two hundred and fifty years ago, most of the world’s wealth was generated from economies where most of the world’s people lived.

Today’s signing of a joint statement with the United States signals the start of a two-year work programme to ensure trade and travel with the United States is secure and efficient, Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says.

The Joint Statement between New Zealand and the United States to Strengthen Border Security, Combat Transnational Crime and Facilitate Legitimate Trade and Travel was signed in Wellington by Mr Williamson and the visiting Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

The Government’s three border agencies are stepping up work to make trade and travel more efficient through better co-ordination of border services.

Primary Industries Minister David Carter, Customs Minister Maurice Williamson and Immigration Minister Nathan Guy today announced “Future Directions for the Border Sector”, a work programme to look at how the three agencies can operate together more effectively.