Beijing, April 7, 2008 - New Zealand became the first developed country to sign a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China on Monday.

New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff has signed the agreement with his Chinese counterpart Commerce Minister Chen Deming.

The ceremony took place in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Monday. New Zealand  Prime Minister Helen Clark and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao witnessed the signing.

Politics continue to dominate the settings. The New Zealand government ignored calls by pro-Tibet campaigners at home to snub Beijing over its crackdown on Tibetan nationalists and signed a free trade agreement.

The free trade agreement is a growth in exports against baselines of between $225 million and $350m a year and in due course a reduction in tariff payments worth $115m and it's likely to benefit New Zealand a lot more.

China is the world's fastest growing economy and one of New Zealand's fastest growing export markets.

The Prime Minister travelled to China with round 190 business people and civic leaders, including top exporters.

The FTA would come to effect on October 1.
New Zealand is one of the developed economies in the Pacific Ocean and it presently having a Gross Domestic Product growth of 3.5%. Per capita income has risen for eight consecutive years and reached $ 27,800 in 2007 in purchasing power parity terms.

Consumer and government spending have driven growth in recent years, and exports picked up in 2006 after struggling for several years.

The growth in New Zealand is proportional to the increase in current deficit. The current account deficit represents the amount by which the economy's demand for resources exceeds its domestic supply.

The current account deficit for the year ended December 2007 was $13,834 million (7.9 percent of GDP). This compares with a deficit of $14,003 million (8.6 percent of GDP) for the year ended December 2006.

News posted by Mohan balaji: mohanbalaji20032004@yahoo.co.in