NZ Signs Historic India Free Trade Agreement
New Zealand and India have signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) described as a once-in-a-generation deal.
National needs the support of Labour because NZ First's Winston Peters has made it clear he'll oppose the deal, claiming it is not a good one for NZ. He has expressed concern about immigration provisions in the FTA as it stands.
McClay says he's had a number of constructive conversations and meetings with Labour's trade spokesperson Damien O'Connor, who incidentally had a hand in the initial discussions with India when he was trade minister.
McClay says government officials have been made available to Labour to help them work through the fine print of the deal.
"It's not unreasonable for Labour to want to have a better understanding of the detail of the FTA and we are working though that," he told Dairy News.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins wrote to Christopher Luxon on the 13th of February saying his party had not received a formal request to support the FTA and requested access to the full unredacted text of the proposed agreement.
Hipkins told Luxon that Labour was prepared to act in the best interests of NZ to avoid damaging our business interests with India and was prepared to support the agreement, subject to clarification on certain matters, mainly about immigration.
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He says they want protections against migrant exploitation and modern slavery strengthened, more compliance officers and action to decouple work visas from individual employers to reduce vulnerability to abuse. Hipkins says they are also concerned about provisions allowing for increased flows of international students.
Having said that, Labour has made it clear they recognise the contribution that migrant workers make to NZ and has no objection to the 1,667 temporary employment visas proposed. It says it accepts migrants' rights to bring partners and dependent children into NZ. Hipkins says this is in line with current immigration settings.
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Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins |
What's Next?
Todd McClay says no time limit has been placed on Labour to come up with a response and says the quicker this comes, the better for NZ.
"But we must get it right and are working through that process," he says.
There is however a reason for ratifying the deal as soon as possible. Under the agreement, if another country or jurisdiction gets a better deal on an NZ product then we have the opportunity to get the same deal. At the end of January, the EU concluded an FTA with India and that agreement is now going through the political process towards ratification.
Wine is one area NZ could benefit from the EU/Indian FTA because if the EU gets a better deal, then NZ will be entitled to the same provision as the EU.
Meantime, it is a case of wait and see, with McClay once again extolling the benefits to NZ of this latest FTA, saying it will be transformational to our economy in the same way the one with Xhina is. He points out that the deal gives us access to 1.4 billion consumers.
In terms of the dairy industry, McClay says that sector would have liked to see more access and that it's probably a missed opportunity for Indian consumers. But he points out that the newly minted US and EU deals didn't get any better access than NZ. He says the door is still open and that we are still getting some product in there - namely, infant formula.
