Events

Recent events

Understanding the Importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Mon, 30 Nov, 2015 5:00 PM — 7:00 PM
NZTE, 6th floor, 139 Quay Street, Auckland

2015 ended for the LANZBC with an event in Auckland on 30 November at which Stephen Jacobi, Executive Director of the NZ International Business Forum discussed the Latin American dimensions of this historic trade agreement. Many of our Auckland-based members were present with representatives from the education, logistics, tourism and corporate services sectors in attendance.

Stephen Jacobi commented on aspects of the TPP that have not dominated debates but which are of great interest to our Council: the new FTAs it creates with Mexico and Peru, and the way it inserts these countries, our country, and Chile into pioneering new trade arrangements linking Asia, Australasia and the Americas. He:

Presented the TPP as a singular achievement and one which will have profound impacts on the global economy as market and investment flows react to the increasing economic integration.
Discussed how we might begin to evaluate the TPP outcome from a New Zealand perspective and its potential benefits and also its sensitivities around the agricultural sector. To the list of gains for goods should be added liberalisation of rules applying to services trade in areas including education, financial and professional services, as well as greater certainty and security for inward and outward investment.
Looked into the future to where the TPP might take us once the agreement has been ratified by its members, and to how the TPP project will allow New Zealand to build on each FTA agreement incrementally to expand the vision of freer trade and investment across the whole APEC region (eventually including China and Indonesia, and even economies currently outside APEC).