The Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, has given a speech at the New Zealand China Partnership Forum in Beijing recognising the rapid growth in trade between the two countries and China’s growing presence on the global economic stage.
Key asserted that China has grown from around 2 per cent of the global GDP (gross domestic product) in 1981 to approximately 15 per cent today. He stated Chinese demand for New Zealand produce stemmed from “rising living standards, increasing urbanization and a shift to higher-protein diets”.
“New Zealand’s goods exports to China have more than trebled in five years,” Key said, “and China is now our second-largest export market.”
“China has also passed Australia to become our biggest source of imported goods.”
Key stated that this growth in trade had been aided by the two countries signing a free trade agreement (FTA) that entered into force on 1 October 2008.
Key expressed his hope to strengthen what he called “one of New Zealand’s most important relationships.”
“We are on track to achieve the goal – which I reconfirmed with President Xi at Boao – of doubling two-way trade by 2015,” he told the forum audience.
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