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New Zealand gov't pushing controversial TiSA deal at home

Xinhua, September 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The New Zealand government on Thursday invited the public and businesses to take part in the controversial Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA).

Trade Minister Todd McClay said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade would host public discussions on TiSA in the South Island cities of Christchurch and Dunedin next month.

TiSA would make it easier for New Zealand services exporters to do business in international markets, McClay said in a statement.

"TiSA is an important agreement. The 23 participants account for 70 percent of global services trade and are the destination for almost two-thirds of New Zealand's services exports," he said.

Services accounted for two thirds of New Zealand's economic activity and 70 percent of employment, and service sector exports were worth 20 billion NZ dollars (14.55 billion U.S. dollars) last year, almost 30 percent of the country's total exports of goods and services.

TiSA is being negotiated by 23 parties, including the European Union and the United States, and is aimed at liberalizing trade in services, but critics claim the talks have been mired in secrecy and the agreement would force the privatization of many state services.

A leading New Zealand law academic in June said the government was pushing an "extreme neoliberal" agenda that would harm poor nations in secret negotiations on TiSA.

Auckland University Professor Jane Kelsey said leaked documents on TISA, covering topics ranging from finance, post and transport to professional services and domestic regulation, had exposed the government's true intentions.

The documents showed the world's most powerful services exporters, acting on behalf of their corporations, refused to learn any lessons from the global financial crisis and wanted instead to intensify the risks from barely regulated cross-border finance, she said.

Critics argue the secrecy mirrors that around the negotiations for the controversial 12-nation Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks. Endit