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Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O'Connor.
New Zealand has signed up to an agreement designed to improve supply chains in the Indo Pacific region.
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O'Connor recently joined ministerial representatives at a meeting in Detroit, USA, to conclude negotiations of a new regional supply chain agreement among 14 Indo-Pacific countries.
He says the agreement is designed to ensure supply chains do not constrain progress made on trade.
The supply chains agreement is one of four pillars being negotiated within the Indo-Pacific Framework (IPEF) initiative launched in September 2022.
O'Connor says the cost of sending a shipping container from NZ to the USA at the height of the Covid crisis grew from $2,000 to $10,000, while the time taken for shipping containers to travel across major global shipping routes skyrocketed from under 60 days to more than 120 days.
He says the IPEF is a novel type of agreement that will provide new channels of collaboration amongst regional countries.
"It covers new ground on modern issues such as the digital economy and accelerating climate action. The group includes the US and many of the large Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, India and most members of ASEAN."
O'Connor says it's in NZ's interest to be part of this IPEF agreement and ensure that supply chains can weather global events.
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