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New Zealand trade minister aiming to expand trade links in Asia

Xinhua, August 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser headed to Malaysia on Friday for a series of regional meetings with the aim of expanding the country's trade links.

The meetings included the third Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting, the annual East Asia Summit Economic Ministers Meeting and ASEAN Economic Ministers consultations with New Zealand and Australia.

"The Kuala Lumpur meetings are an important point of engagement for New Zealand with Association of South East Asian Nations ( ASEAN) and the wider Asian region," Groser said in a statement Friday.

"The RCEP meeting will review the overall state of the negotiation and its forward path. We also look forward to confirmation of an agreement on the structure for initial market access offers on goods," he said.

"East Asia has more than 3 billion people and there is increasing regional economic integration. RCEP countries include seven of our top 10 trading partners who took nearly 30 billion NZ dollars (19.88 billion U.S. dollars) of our exports in 2014," he said.

"Helping New Zealand businesses gain greater access to that massive customer base will provide significant benefits to our economy."

Groser would also take part in celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of dialogue relations between New Zealand and ASEAN. Endi