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With New Zealand appearing to be making little progress on a region-wide trade deal involving the Gulf states, one of the countries suggested the government could pursue a separate deal
A senior United Arab Emirates minister has called on the government to press ahead with a bilateral trade deal as work on a Gulf deal enters its 16th year with little progress.
The UAE’s minister of state for international cooperation, Reem Al Hashimy, visited New Zealand this week for a series of meetings with business and government ministers.
In an interview with the newsroom on Tuesday, Hashemi said she took some time to advocate for the two countries to work together on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (equivalent to a trade deal).
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The UAE is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and is currently negotiating a Gulf deal with New Zealand that would include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
However, little progress has been made in the talks since a deal was negotiated in 2009 and was “essentially done” – only held up by the GCC’s moratorium on signing new trade deals.
Regional friction since then, including a four-year blockade of Qatar by four other Gulf Cooperation Council members, has become an obstacle to renewed discussions.Discussions finally resumed last year, despite Stuff reporting on the Gulf state’s latest market access proposals fell “very short” Which comes from an aborted transaction.
Al Hashimy told Newsroom the UAE did not want to disrupt New Zealand’s talks with the GCC, but believed it was possible to “open up” a separate bilateral agreement that would benefit both countries.
“These types of trade discussions are inherently complex and highly detailed, and they deserve [amount] With depth and rigor, each country also brings its own pace and complexity of legislation to the table. “
While the UAE is a small country in terms of population and geography, it has an “expanded footprint” that could serve as a gateway for New Zealand businesses to expand into the wider region, including Africa.
“Separating Politics from Trade”
One potential complication could be the role of labor and environmental standards in any agreement.
The government’s Trade for All agenda includes an emphasis on addressing environmental concerns, labor rights and inclusive growth. However, say politician earlier this yearUAE Trade Minister Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi said Western countries needed to “separate politics from trade and economics” in negotiations.
“Once we brought politics into the discussion, we downplayed the main objective of the deal,” Al Zeyoudi said.
Greens foreign affairs spokesman Golriz Ghahraman told the newsroom New Zealanders wanted the government to uphold human rights and environmental standards in the trade deals it signed.
Ghahraman pointed to the country’s role in supporting Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen, Royal Bank of New Zealand revealed that in 2021 Foreign Service officials have Approval for export of military equipment Traveled to the UAE despite fears of alleged war crimes.
The government should implement transparency and democratic mechanisms for the trade agreements it signs, while legislation also needs to be amended to mandate minimum trade standards.
Al Hashimy said she agreed with her colleagues that there needed to be a “quarantine” for issues not directly related to trade and investment, but there would be ways to cover elements such as the environment and farmers’ rights.
Asked how long it might take to negotiate a bilateral deal, she said the focus would be on quality rather than speed, although neither side wanted negotiations to be “disgusting”.
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor told Newsroom that during his visit to Dubai last year, the UAE had raised the possibility of a bilateral trade deal and Al Hashimy intensified that enthusiasm when the two met in Wellington.
While negotiations with the GCC have recently restarted and remain a focus for officials, those talks are still “moving very slowly, so clearly we have to … consider the option of whether we will continue with bilateral negotiations [deal] and the UAE”.
O’Connor said he would have a better understanding of the relative merits of the different approaches after receiving new proposals following discussions with the GCC this week.
Negotiations with the GCC and the UAE would not be mutually exclusive, but complications could arise in terms of negotiating resources and the pace at which progress could be made, he said.
The UAE will receive worldwide attention when it hosts the COP28 climate summit in November.
Al Hashimy said the country had already started discussions with other countries on what could be achieved from the summit, focusing on fundamental issues such as adaptation, mitigation and climate finance.
The decision to host the event in the UAE proved controversial, with human rights groups criticizing the country’s continued detention of Afghan evacuees and jailing of government critics.
Al Hashimy said the UAE has been a “firm believer in individual rights” since its founding in 1971, and upholds religious freedom and the rights of minorities in a country with residents of more than 200 different nationalities.
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