Wednesday, 13 October 2021 06:55

O'Connor's overseas odyssey

Written by  Staff Reporters
Trade, Export and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor. Trade, Export and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor.

Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor continued his overseas odyssey in the past week with multiple meetings in the US, Europe and Ireland - all aimed at sorting out trade issues which in the case of Europe dairy is a major issue.

The main purpose of his trip is to engage with the European Union (EU) with whom NZ is currently endeavouring to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA). The negotiations have been progressing slowly and as yet the EU has not come up with a better offer than the one former EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan offered a year ago. That offer was widely condemned by NZ politicians and farming leaders as grossly inadequate and insulting.

On his way to Europe, O'Connor stopped off in Washington, D.C. to meet with the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, becoming the first N government minister to visit the US since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Before leaving on his trip, Minister O'Connor said he'd be talking to US counterparts about how we can work together to keep our bilateral trade and economic relationship on its current growth trajectory. The US is NZs third largest trading partner.

In the past week, Damien O'Connor has held meetings in Sweden, Ireland and France.

More like this

EU regulations unfairly threaten $200m exports

A European Union regulation ensuring that the products its citizens consume do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation worldwide threatens $200m of New Zealand beef and leather exports.

Feds support live animal exports

Federated Farmers have reiterated their support for the coalition Government to abolish the present ban on the live export of animals.

Live exports battle

As the coalition Government mulls new regulations to reinstate the export of live animals, debate is heating up between supporters and opponents.

Crazy

OPINION: Your canine crusader was truly impressed by the almost unanimous support given by politicians of all stripes in Parliament to the recent passing of legislation for the NZ/EU free trade deal.

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter