Foreign Affairs and Trade

The overarching political agreement between the EU and New Zealand and the basis of the bilateral relationship. The agreement highlights both parties' commitment to strengthen further their relationship across a broad range of fields. The 2007 Joint Declaration is the most recent in a string of agreements between Europe and New Zealand, dating back to 1961 when a New Zealand ambassador was first accredited to the European Communities. Since then, the EU and New Zealand have negotiated a number of agreements, which are designed to facilitate access to each other's markets and reduce exporters' costs. Early agreements were in specific products, like sheep meat 91980). Since then Agreements have broadened to areas like research, science and technology (first in 1991) and trade in live animal products.

Government