European Union Ambassador to New Zealand Nina Obermaier. Photo / Dean Purcell
New Zealand and the European Union see “eye-to-eye” when it comes to “perspective on China”, the European Union’s (EU) ambassador to New Zealand, Nina Obermaier, said.
She was speaking to the Herald as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins embarked on his whistle-stop tour of the European Union, which included a stop in Brussels to sign New Zealand’s landmark free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU.
Both sides see FTAs as a way of diversifying their trading relationships as geopolitical tensions heat up.
“They make us more resilient - that goes for New Zealand as well as for the EU,” Obermaier said.
She described these agreements as “friend-shoring”, the neologism coined as a riff on off-shoring and on-shoring, which have dominated the political debate around trade - particularly after 2001, when China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation precipitated the massive off-shoring of manufacturing jobs from the likes of the United States (although this is still the subject of some contention).
Both New Zealand and the EU have been working out how they position themselves on China. The country is a major trading partner to both, but its rise has prompted security concerns.
On Friday, in his first major foreign policy speech, Hipkins described the relationship with China as New Zealand’s “most complex relationship”.
“In global affairs we have voiced concerns about China’s more assertive posture on a range of issues,” Hipkins said.
Meanwhile, the European Union has been working out where it stands on a rising China.
It has, since 2019, considered China a partner, competitor and systemic rival.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who met with Hipkins over the weekend, has recently discussed de-risking global trade as an alternative to de-coupling.
This strategy was endorsed by a meeting of EU leaders earlier this month.
Obermaier said this was part of what New Zealand and the EU saw “eye-to-eye” on.
“We are using this quite nuanced three-pronged approach of partner, competitor and rival,” she said, with an emphasis on “diversifying and de-risking and decreasing vulnerabilities in our supply chain”.
“This is what free trade agreements do, which is also why we’re pleased to have this adopted,” she said.
New Zealand’s trade with the EU is very different to its trade with China. In the year to March, New Zealand exported $5.9 billion worth of goods and services to the EU, just under a quarter of the $21.64b exported to China.
The Government thinks exports to the EU will be $1.8b higher in 2035 thanks to the FTA.
Imports are a different story, with New Zealand importing $16.16b from the EU, similar to the $18.57b from China.
Ratification of the agreement from both sides is proceeding. The agreement must find “consent” from the European Parliament.
The New Zealand Parliament must also ratify the agreement. Legislation will have to set up a framework for implementing a key pillar of the agreement, the recognition of European Geographical Indicators, or G.I.s.
These will mean that eventually, for example, only feta cheese coming from Greece will be able to be sold as feta.
Outside of trade, both sides are talking up the opportunities of New Zealand’s “association” agreement with pillar II Horizon Europe, the EU’s science and research platform.
It has funding of €53.5b (NZ$90b) for the 2021-2027 period, a portion of which can be accessed by New Zealand researchers.
In Europe, Hipkins said the agreement “gives access for New Zealand researchers to Europe’s largest-ever science collaboration platform, and creates opportunities for New Zealand’s interests and expertise to be demonstrated on the world stage”.
Thomas Coughlan is Deputy Political Editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the press gallery since 2018.