MNI INTERVIEW 2: NZ Seeking FTAs To Cut China Reliance-FinMin

--Wellington chasing deals with both EU and UK post-Brexit

By Lachlan Colquhoun

     SYDNEY (MNI) - New Zealand will pursue free trade deals with both the EU

and the UK in coming months as it looks to fresh markets to diversify away from

a reliance on China, Finance Minister Grant Robertson told MNI in an interview.

He said exports will be a focus for the country's post-Covid recovery and NZ

will seek to complete an FTA with the EU, negotiations for which began in 2018.

 A separate deal with the UK is a "real opportunity" to build on the historic

relationship, but all was dependent on Boris Johnson's government managing its

"final exit" from the EU, he added.

"We are ready, willing and able to be part of an agreement with the UK and we

were talking to them about this pre-Brexit," he said.

Robertson said two-way trade with the EU-27 was currently worth around NZD16

billion annually, while trade with the with the UK is worth around NZD10

billion.

Robertson said NZ was also keen to seek fresh opportunities with regional

economies such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

--CHINA CONCERNS

     China has been NZ's biggest trading partner since 2017, currently taking

around 23% of all Kiwi exports and Robertson said Wellington had been concerned

about the impact of deteriorating U.S.-China trade relations before the pandemic

crisis and was watching events closely.

"Anything that causes instability is not good for us as a small trading nation,"

he said.

"That is why we have to keep looking for a diversity of markets."

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3829; email: jason.webb@marketnews.com

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