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Speaker 1: Now New Zealand has struck its fastest ever free trade

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Speaker 1: deal with the United Arab Emirates, as in the fastest

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Speaker 1: we've ever done, and it happens to be with the UAE.

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Speaker 1: The deal will lift duties on ninety eight point five

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Speaker 1: percent of New Zealand's exports immediately. That will rise to

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Speaker 1: nineteen nine percent within three years. And the deal was

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Speaker 1: all done within four months after the negotiations first started

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Speaker 1: in May. The Trade Minister is Todd mclahey. Todd, Hey, Heather,

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Speaker 1: Hell are you Jim Welth? How did you manage to

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Speaker 1: do it this quickly?

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Speaker 2: Well, two things. I first met with the UA Trade

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Speaker 2: Minister in January of this year, end of January, and

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Speaker 2: I raised the prospect of a trade deal and said

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Speaker 2: that I'd go home and talk to my Prime Minister,

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Speaker 2: but if we're going to do one, let's be serious.

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Speaker 2: I was back just about a month later when he

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Speaker 2: hosted the Trade Minster meeting and I was one of

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Speaker 2: his vice chairs there and we made a commitment together

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Speaker 2: then that if we were going to do this, let's

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Speaker 2: try and do it the fastest that has been done,

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Speaker 2: and one of the most ambitious, and said, you know,

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Speaker 2: why don't we try and do everything entry into fourth

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Speaker 2: on day one. And we've been sweating and working out

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Speaker 2: negotiators hard for four months, including the UAE summer holiday,

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Speaker 2: and today we've announced it. And this is really good

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Speaker 2: news for New Zealand exporters. It's actually good for every

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Speaker 2: single sector in New Zealand. There are huge opportunities in

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Speaker 2: that market that's just growing for us.

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Speaker 1: How much smaller is this FTA than an FTA with

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Speaker 1: the GCC.

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Speaker 2: Well, our trade with the UAE we sell them at

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Speaker 2: one point one billion dollars worth of goods every year.

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Speaker 2: Majority of that, about seven hundred million is dairy. Our

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Speaker 2: trade with Saudi, which is the largest country there is

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Speaker 2: about the same size. So this is important to us

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Speaker 2: and it is significant, but it is complementary. The Trade

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Speaker 2: Minister who's down here, we finished the negotiation together last night.

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Speaker 2: Just a few little issues to go through. He was

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Speaker 2: asked in the press conference, you know, is this instead

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Speaker 2: of is an issue for the GCC deal. No, it's

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Speaker 2: complimentary and he said it believes ed would help. Now

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Speaker 2: the GCC has been you know, it's been sitting there

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Speaker 2: for seventeen years. Don't want to get hopes up, but

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Speaker 2: I have been meeting with others. There are Katar Prime

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Speaker 2: ministers at Trade Minister and also the Saudi Minister, and

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Speaker 2: there is interest in New Zealand. Again, but you know,

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Speaker 2: we've got a little way to go, so this is complementary.

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Speaker 2: It's a great, great start, it's worth celebrating, and there's

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Speaker 2: a foothold in the Middle East.

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Speaker 1: Our first is part of our attraction, the possibility of

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Speaker 1: attracting their investment money in because it's been noted that

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Speaker 1: they have about three of the world's biggest sovereign wealth

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Speaker 1: funds there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they do, and so investment is part of this agreement.

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Speaker 2: We also negotiate a bilateral investment agreement and all that

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Speaker 2: really does is give certainty to investors in both sides

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Speaker 2: levels of playing field. It doesn't include that ISDS, that

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Speaker 2: investor state dispute settlement mechanism that so many people were

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Speaker 2: worried about. We took that off the table and we

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Speaker 2: didn't do it. There is interest in New Zealand, but

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Speaker 2: their interests in working with us and could be an infrastructure.

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Speaker 2: They have a lot of interest in food security. They

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Speaker 2: want to be able to buy high quality, safe food

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Speaker 2: from New Zealand the food we produce so they can

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Speaker 2: continue to feed their population as it grows. So yes,

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Speaker 2: But there's also a really big part of the agreement

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Speaker 2: is around services and we have a number of Kiwi

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Speaker 2: companies up there doing well. Its look, it's just a

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Speaker 2: big growing market. Many more New Zealand companies are going

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Speaker 2: to find it easy to go up there and do business.

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Speaker 1: Now do you think that they're going to put money

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Speaker 1: into us? Are they going to invest into us?

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Speaker 2: Well, they bought a big business delegation down here with

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Speaker 2: them and they've been having business to business meetings and

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Speaker 2: I hear from the delegation of the businessmen on both sides,

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Speaker 2: men and women, is constructive and they see some opportunities.

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Speaker 2: So I think we should just see that as a

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Speaker 2: you a first sort of foothold they've come and have

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Speaker 2: a look. The one thing that does happen whenever you

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Speaker 2: sign a trade deal with another country, as trade grows

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Speaker 2: and investment grows, and it happens without a government being involved.

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Speaker 2: But we're pretty keen to see if there are ways

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Speaker 2: they can invest in our economy that is good for

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Speaker 2: all New Zealanders. And you know they have said they

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Speaker 2: want to come a look at that. So there are

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Speaker 2: certain going to be some opportunities. We'll have a look

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Speaker 2: and test out where they should be and make sure

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Speaker 2: they are good for New Zealand if we bring that

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Speaker 2: investment in.

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Speaker 1: Todd isn't true that they actually wanted to strike an

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Speaker 1: FTA with US as far back as poor I think

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Speaker 1: it was November twenty twenty one, I read, But we

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Speaker 1: played hard to get.

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Speaker 2: So in two thousand and eight there was all but

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Speaker 2: an agreement on the table, but then the GCC said

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Speaker 2: to them, we would prefer to do a region wide one,

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Speaker 2: so the UEA stepped back. I do think that. Look,

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Speaker 2: I understand a few years ago, before he came to government,

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Speaker 2: they showed renewed interest, but it didn't get off the ground.

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Speaker 2: There's probably a range of reasons for that. But actually,

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Speaker 2: you know, when I became Trade Minister, I said to

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Speaker 2: Christopher Luxeen, you know that I think there's a big

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Speaker 2: opportunity there we could do something. He said, your job

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Speaker 2: to get out on the world stage and hustle for

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Speaker 2: New Zealand exporters. And you know we've been able to

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Speaker 2: do this and it is it's actually less than one

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Speaker 2: hundred working days a touch off caution. I don't think

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Speaker 2: the next ones will be doing will be as straightforward

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Speaker 2: as us, but we will just work hard to make

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Speaker 2: sure we can deliver quality and we're not leaving anything. Whatever,

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Speaker 2: anything we can get the scored from news inalers, we're

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Speaker 2: going to be out there doing.

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Speaker 1: That brilliant stuff. Hey, Todd, thank you, really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: That's Todd McLay, the Trade Minister.

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