Key ends trip on positive trade note

Reuters

'VERY POSITIVE': John Key greets Xi Jinping.

Relevant offers

Politics

Parker accepts apology for 'clown' comment Sea law 'an environmental risk' Govt defends 50c an hour minimum wage lift Maori queue-jumping for SOEs raised More claims about PM's man and doco funding Peters demands apology over Whanau Ora row Call for McElrea to resign from NZ On Air Defence Force staff stick to Fiji holiday policy Minimum wage rises - by 50 cents Gardiner's hui appointment 'inappropriate'

Prime Minister John Key has wound up a three-country, 10-day trip through Asia, underlining his view that the continent is where New Zealand's economic future lies.

At his final stop in Hanoi yesterday, Mr Key said he had concluded "warm, friendly and forward-looking" talks with Vietnam's Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung. He went on to meet President Nguyen Minh Triet.

Mr Key said that with the exceptions of Indonesia and India, he had now visited every country in Asia where New Zealand had an embassy or high commission.

"So that's a sign of the attention that we are paying to this part of the world," he told reporters. "Contrasting that, the only European destination I have been to so far is the United Kingdom. It's not that we don't want to spend more time there, it's just that we have a limited amount of time."

The recurring theme during his stops in Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hanoi was trade. "At the moment, we see this as the really big opportunity to grow our exports," he said. "We see a young population, an increasingly wealthy population and one that wants to buy New Zealand goods in a part of the world which is quite accessible for New Zealand exporters."

The free trade agreement signed two years ago with China and the subsequent dramatic growth in trade was the touchstone of the trip and Mr Key raised it again yesterday after the talks with Mr Dung. He said it showed how rapidly trade could grow on the basis of further agreements like those within the Asean and Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP] groupings.

Vietnam is one of the eight countries in negotiations for free trade within the TPP grouping, but it has not fully committed to the process. Mr Key said New Zealand was "as confident as we can be" of having Vietnam become a full partner of the TPP.

"They see it as an important step forward and all of the signs are positive but this is a very difficult negotiation as we're all aware and we'll just need to inch our way forward with it."

Through an interpreter, Mr Dung said there were "positive developments" between the two countries on trade and investment. He appeared to indicate that Vietnam's co-operation in New Zealand's bid for a spot on the United Nations Security Council in 2015 was possible.

Mr Key said its support for the bid was important because the candidacy could unexpectedly turn into a competitive race where voting support became vital.

- © Fairfax NZ News