Export New Zealand (NZ) will lead the first trade mission to Taiwan since the ANZTEC bilateral trade agreement was signed last December, due to leave Saturday.
Headed by Charles Finny, who negotiated the agreement, Export NZ chairman Ken Stevens and Business NZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly, 30 New Zealand delegates will spend four days in Taiwan attending bilateral meetings before heading to Hong Kong and Macau.
“Taiwan is an affluent market of 23m people and the ANZTEC agreement has opened unprecedented access to it for New Zealand traders,” said Finny in a press release. “After four years, 98.7 per cent of our current exports to Chinese Taipei will be duty free.”
Since the agreement came in to place, tariffs on apples and cherries as well as dairy and wine have been eliminated, with kiwifruit exports to become duty-free within three years.
“The ANZTEC agreement opens the door for a rapid increase in two-way trade for both New Zealand and Taiwan,” said Stevens.
“The trade boost will not just be in goods directly benefiting from the speedy elimination of tariffs, which gives traders a significant advantage over their competitors, but also in the general increase in trade between our two countries that will increase the prosperity of both economies.”
The ANZTEC agreement includes the eventual removal of all tariffs on New Zealand’s exports to Chinese Taipei, saving an estimated NZ$75.8m, according to the NZ Commerce and Industry Office.
