NZ and Taiwan ‘on track’ for trade agreement

New Zealand’s top trade official in Taiwan, Stephen Payton, told the Taipei Times that the two countries are ‘ on track’ to ink a trade pact that will leave people ‘impressed’. Taiwan and New Zealand are making great progress in negotiations on a bilateral economic cooperation agreement, Payton said. Describing the agreement as an important development in bilateral ties, Payton said the Taiwan-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECA) would be “high-quality, comprehensive and a very good agreement for both sides’, according to the Taipei Times. The paper also said that, according to the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, the ‘high-quality’ in Payton’s remark means that both sides will open more than 90 percent of their markets to each other, including products, services and industrial cooperation. Taiwan and New Zealand announced in October 2011 that they had agreed to conduct a joint study into the feasibility of an economic cooperation agreement, with negotiations starting in May 2012.