Submission

Federated Farmers of New Zealand submission on Accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans- Pacific Partnership

The Federation supports there being a clear and transparent process in place for the accession of new members into the CPTPP. Growing the membership of the CPTPP will contribute towards reinforcing the web of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements which, along with the overarching World Trade Organisation framework, are critically important to the prosperity of New Zealand farmers. 

Accession to the CPTPP should be granted only after a clear commitment to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers in the trade of agricultural goods has been made. To be as beneficial to the New Zealand economy as possible, trade agreements must be both high quality and comprehensive. Federated Farmers acknowledges the political difficulties in negotiating measures that liberalise agricultural goods, but this difficulty should not be sufficient to remove the issue as a prerequisite to CPTPP membership. 

Any accession process should also be used as an opportunity to improve existing goods market access commitments between the members of CPTPP, particularly in the area of agricultural goods where outcomes fell short of being fully comprehensive.