Photo:VCG

Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen met in Beijing on Monday with Deborah Geels, deputy secretary of the Americas and Asia Group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, with both sides expressing willingness to further deepen bilateral economic and trade ties.

The meeting between the two trade officials came amid reports of a visit to China in late June by a large trade delegation led by New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.

Under the strategic guidelines of the two countries' leaders, efforts have been made by both sides in actively boosting trade and investment cooperation while promoting the China-New Zealand Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Wang said at Monday's meeting.

China is willing to work with New Zealand to continue to implement the protocol on upgrading the bilateral free trade agreement with high quality, expand trade cooperation, encourage enterprises of the two countries to actively carry out two-way investment, and tap cooperation potential in fields such as new energy vehicles and infrastructure, the Chinese vice commerce minister noted.

It is hoped that New Zealand will provide Chinese companies with a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment, according to Wang.

China is willing to further strengthen cooperation with New Zealand under the frameworks of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, APEC, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the World Trade Organization, he said.

Geels said that the relationship between New Zealand and China is very important to New Zealand, and highly complementary economic and trade relations are an important part of bilateral relations.

New Zealand is willing to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, maintain close communication and exchanges with China, further deepen practical cooperation in the fields of goods trade, service trade, e-commerce and agriculture, while encouraging two-way investment, and actively promote multilateral and regional cooperation, Geels said.

Prime Minister Hipkins said on Monday he would visit China from June 25 to 30, leading a trade delegation that includes some of the country's biggest companies, Reuters reported on Monday.

While there has been no official confirmation yet from the Chinese side regarding the visit, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said in responding to corresponding media inquiries that China values the relations with New Zealand and looks to enhance cooperation with the country in trade and other fields.