New Zealand Trade minister Phil Goff said on Wednesday that he was confident New Zealand will be well placed to seek a free trade agreement with the United States after the new U.S. Administration takes over in January, the New Zealand Press Association reported on Wednesday.
Goff has met key U.S. officials over the last few days in Washington and at conferences in France and Peru.
He held extensive discussions with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus and senior congressmen.
He also held discussions with members of the 70-strong New Zealand Caucus in Congress and senior advisors to both presidential campaign candidates.
"Over the next five months, Washington will naturally be focused on the 2008 Presidential elections, though the current administration continues to press forward with its program to free up trade," he said in a statement released on Wednesday.
"With the swearing in of a new administration next January, however, I am confident that New Zealand will be well placed to seek a free trade agreement with either a Republican or a Democratic administration," he added.
Successive New Zealand governments have sought negotiations on a free trade agreement with the United States, but so far it has not been able to get on the priority list.
Goff said some things had changed. "Dairy has been a potentially sensitive issue but the U.S. dairy industry has moved from net importers to net exporters of dairy produce," he said.
"With demand for dairy products exceeding world supply and projected to continue to do so, U.S. dairy production is under no threat from New Zealand."
There was also considerable interest by the United States in the FTA between New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei, known as the P4, and its potential to be a building block for a high quality regional agreement.
Source: Xinhua
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