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Trade Links – Issue 2

INFO 390 March 2009

Welcome

Welcome to the second Trade Links newsletter from the Ministry for the Environment's International team. The purpose of Trade Links is to provide information about the Ministry's international trade and cooperation activities to those of you involved or interested in global environmental cooperation.

New Zealand has a number of free trade agreements that include parallel arrangements for countries to work together on broader environmental matters.
These arrangements (in the form of Environmental Cooperation Agreements) provide a platform for New Zealand to engage with our trade partners in ways that recognise the close connections between trade and the environment. Achieving environmental sustainability can underpin the future prosperity of New Zealand and our partner countries.

This edition has information about current trade negotiations, cooperation activities and international progress in this area.

In this issue:

Our first newsletter

The first edition of Trade Links included information about current trade negotiations, cooperation activities and international progress in this area. It also provided information on trade and environment and introduced the Ministry’s international team.

A copy of the previous issue can be found at http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/about/trade-links/trade-links-200811.html

Active agreements

New Zealand currently has environment agreements or arrangements with:

Meetings

  1. In April, officials from the Ministry for the Environment will meet in Singapore with their Singaporean and Bruneian counterparts to review commitments for cooperation activities under the Trans-Pacific ECA for the period 2009-2010 
  2. Officials are scheduled to meet in April/May with China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection to decide on projects for cooperation under the China Environment Cooperation Agreement which entered into force on 26 September 2008.
  3. Staff from the Ministry for the Environment visited Thailand in March to explore opportunities for cooperation on water management, transport and vehicle emissions (including bio fuels), climate change and agriculture, dioxin laboratory analysis, and alternatives to methyl bromide fumigation for timber.

Negotiations

New Zealand has a busy year ahead of commencing, continuing and concluding negotiations.

  1. Following the completion of preparatory talks, on 3 March the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Key announced the launch of FTA negotiations. The negotiations will commence in Seoul in the second week of June.
  2. Negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (currently known as P4) are likely to begin over the next 2-3 months with the US, Australia, Peru and Vietnam. These countries are seeking to accede to the P4 FTA that currently includes New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei. 
  3. New Zealand is scheduled to meet with Hong Kong in early May to resume negotiations for the NZ-Hong Kong FTA, after these talks were suspended in 2002.
  4. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) visited New Zealand in February for Round 4 of negotiations for the NZ-GCC FTA. The GCC is opposed to environment provisions in the FTA but is amenable to New Zealand approaching Member States individually to negotiate bilateral agreements. The Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade will explore this option over the next few months. 
  5. New Zealand met with Indonesia in December 2008 to continue negotiations for a Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Cooperation in the context of the ASEAN-Australia-NZ Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Negotiations are ongoing and we expect to conclude these before mid-2009.
  6. We are also scheduled to meet with Malaysia in mid-April for the final round to conclude the NZ-Malaysia FTA.

Cooperation activities

  1. In the context of the Trans-Pacific ECA, officials are exploring new opportunities for cooperation with the three partner countries in the areas of: waste management, biodiversity and marine protected areas, sustainable tourism, reducing carbon foot prints, and renewable energy development. To progress these areas of cooperation, the Ministry for the Environment is currently developing proposals in collaboration with other government departments, Crown research institutes, universities and NZ business organisations.

    Environment Education.
  2. An Education for Sustainability workshop was held from 2–9 November 2008 in New Zealand and attended by teachers from Singapore, Chile and Brunei. The workshop resulted in the following outcomes: The international participants have made commitments to implement environmental education in their schools and communities based on what they viewed in New Zealand. Examples of this include:
    • Implementing programmes on waste reduction and recycling
    • Making schools more ecologically considerate and healthier places to learn
    • Encouraging school and community participation in environmental work projects and learning
    • Encouraging and integrating environmental education into the sciences and physical education.
    • New Zealand has been invited to act as mentor on environmental education, leading by example across the Trans-Pacific countries
  3. Following the workshop, a network of education practitioners and schools working on environmental education has been established to operate across the Trans-Pacific countries.
  4. In late April officials from all P4 countries will meet in Singapore to further develop the programme of cooperation on environmental education in collaboration with Enviroschools Foundation of New Zealand.

    Geothermal Energy.
  5. Officials are working with New Zealand and Chilean stakeholders on developing a programme of cooperation activities with Chile on geothermal energy. The programme will focus on environmental management and indigenous community involvement in geothermal development. Participants in the cooperation activities held to date, reported that cooperation on geothermal development with Chile has led to the following outcomes:
    • Chilean experts learned about New Zealand’s integrated approach to managing and developing geothermal resources, and the range of expertise that New Zealand has to offer on geothermal development.
    • Chilean representatives learned about Indigenous participation in the development of geothermal energy in NZ.
    • Formal links were established between Chilean and New Zealand government agencies, research institutes, universities, businesses and potential investors.
    • These links include those that lead to agreements between universities and the development of courses and research regarding geothermal energy, and potential scholarship programmes.
    • Opportunities were identified for New Zealand to provide training on assessment methodologies of geothermal projects in the exploration and operational stages.

           Thailand

  1. New Zealand and Thai officials are working together to develop a programme of cooperation activities on issues such as water management, bio fuels, climate change and environmental legislation

Contacting us

We welcome your comments and queries, and encourage you to pass this on to others with an interest in Environmental Cooperation activities.

To contact us please call 439 7572 or email: trade.environment@mfe.govt.nz

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