A free trade agreement (FTA) between New Zealand and South Korea may be realised sooner than expected, if talks between high-level business delegations in Seoul last week are anything to go by.
While the FTA discussions are still very much in early days, those involved say there is a strong political motivation behind a possible deal.
“There are high hopes that the process may be able to be concluded faster than what would be normal for such negotiations,” Murray Denyer of consultant Cooney Lees Morgan told Fruitnet.
Mr Denyer was a member of the New Zealand business delegation, and has been involved in negotiations for New Zealand’s previous FTAs in the region.
“There is a real will at the political level to move quickly, confirmed by New Zealand’s and Korea’s trade ministers who both addressed the business roundtable,” he said.
The talks involved major business interests from either country, such as New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri, as well as government representatives.
“The object of this was to raise the profile and the benefits of the FTA within the Korean business sector, but also to demonstrate to the New Zealand Government the degree of support for the deal from within the business community.”
Mr Denyer echoed earlier comments by the two countries that New Zealand and Korea had complementary agricultural industries.
“There are no rice or garlic exports from New Zealand, and horticulture is counterseasonal,” he told Fruitnet, adding there would be little competition between the beef and dairy industries either.
He said there were also significant opportunities for Korean businesses to invest in New Zealand’s agriculture sector, particularly in information and communication technology, and packaging and processing automation.
“Provided we can get past the traditionally protectionist politics of agriculture, there shouldn’t be too much holding us up on a product-by-product basis.” Mr Denyer explained.
A free trade deal could be concluded in 18 months at the earliest, he said, but anything inside three years would be normal.
