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New Zealand PM to visit Japan, S Korea for FTAs |
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09:31, April 21, 2008 |
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark will visit Japan and South Korea in the week before May 22 with free trade on her mind in the wake of the ground-breaking agreement just signed with China, the New Zealand Herald daily reported on Monday.
Progress with South Korea is likely because both countries commissioned a joint study that backs a free trade agreement, but Japan is a much harder sell, the daily said.
Clark told the Herald that she raised the matter with then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on her last visit to Japan in June 2005.
She said the FTA talks with China had added dynamism and until New Zealand could make progress on such issues with Japan, the relationship with Japan wouldn't be as dynamic.
She said South Korea's significance as a trading partner – it is New Zealand's seventh largest -- was often overlooked.
Source:Xinhua
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