EU deepens relationship with New Zealand

The New Zealand Prime Minister and EU leaders have agreed to further deepen relations in the areas of political and security, science and innovation and trade and investment.

The reaffirmation was agreed during a meeting at The Hague in the Netherlands between the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key.

In a joint statement, the leaders said: “We have reaffirmed our commitment to transform our existing 2007 Joint Declaration into a new agreement to strengthen our co-operation and relations. We reviewed progress on the negotiation of this new Partnership Agreement on Relations and Cooperation and asked chief negotiators to resume their efforts with a view to concluding the agreement in the near future.”

They added: “We agreed to reflect on options to progress the trade and economic relationship, including the parameters for the possible opening of negotiations to further liberalise trade and investment between the EU and New Zealand. We have decided that the two sides will take stock in 2015 and decide on next steps.”

Their joint statement also indicated that they would continue efforts to “work together to achieve a comprehensive global climate change agreement”.