Labour Supports NZ/India FTA

Labour’s spokesperson on Trade, Damien O’Connor says if National had provided all the information it wanted right at the start they would have signed it off much earlier.

He says Labour has always wanted to be bipartisan on trade and have signed  many such agreements in the past.

“But in this case the problem was not having details throughout the negotiations and when the deal was agreed Labour had to investigate the detail in the deal itself. People in the Labour party  were asking legitimate questions around migration, education and even around the dairy. They wanted to make sure  that migrant workers were not going to be exploited and  that students who come to this country were going to  get legitimate education and not being exploited,” he says.

O’Connor says they had a responsibility to understand the legal rationale and support and advice that sat behind the FTA.

He says they also needed to investigate claims by Winston Peters that it was a bad deal for NZ.

“We checked out these claims and we are satisfied they were not true,” he says.

O’Connor describes the FTA as a step forward with the worlds most populous country and that in the end it will be the role of exporters to extract value from it.

He says government's role is to open doors and let business decide what opportunities best suit them.

Labour’s support for the FTA means that it can now be successfully ratified by the NZ parliament

The FTA is Due to be signed by Trade Minister Todd McClay in Delhi this coming week. The Minister has with him a cross party delegation including MP’s and more than 30 kiwi business representatives

Todd McClay says a trade agreement with India has been a long ambition for New Zealand.

“The signature of the NZ-India FTA is an occasion to celebrate,” he says.