New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Brussels on Friday to witness the signing of the New Zealand-European Union Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The FTA will deliver immediate tariff savings on New Zealand exports to the European Union of about 100 million NZ dollars (61.53 million U.S. dollars) a year when it enters into force, Hipkins said on Tuesday.
Modelling suggests exports to the European Union will increase by up to 1.8 billion NZ dollars (1.11 billion U.S. dollars) per annum and add up to 1.4 billion NZ dollars (860 million U.S. dollars) to New Zealand’s GDP per year once fully implemented.
« This is an important milestone towards entry into force of this high-quality and historic free trade agreement, » Hipkins said.
New Zealand will also sign the Horizon Europe Association Agreement. Horizon Europe is the European Union’s main research and innovation framework and funding platform; it is also the largest multilateral research program in the world, Hipkins said.
Associating with Horizon Europe will provide new opportunities for New Zealand scientists to collaborate with European partners on research to address major global challenges such as climate change, energy and health, he said.
