WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/REG306/M/1 
19 December 2012 
 (12-6974) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Sixty-seventh Session  
 
 
 
CONSIDERATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN  
NEW ZEALAND AND MALAYSIA, GOODS AND SERVICES 
 
Note on the Meeting of 20-21 November 2012 
 
Chairman:  Mr. F. Riegert (France) 
 
 1. The 67
th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram WT O/AIR/4013/Rev.1 dated 9 November 2012. 
2. Under Agenda Item B.VI of this session, th e CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement 
(FTA) between New Zealand and Malaysia  (hereinafter "the Agreement"). 
3. The Chairman said that the Agreement had entere d into force on 1 August 2010.  It had been 
notified to the WTO by the Parties on 9 August 2010 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 and 
the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article  XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement establishing 
a free trade area (document WT/REG/306/N/1) and under GATS Article V:7(a) as an Agreement 
providing for the liberalization of trade in services within the meaning of Article V of the GATS (document S/C/N/615).  The text of the Agreement w as available, together with its Annexes, on the 
Parties' official websites. The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspects (document WT/REG306/1 dated 10 Sept ember 2012) had been prepared by the Secretariat on its own 
responsibility in full consultation with the Parti es, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the 
Transparency Mechanism for Re gional Trade Agreements (document WT/L/671) ("TM").  Written 
questions and replies on this Agreement had b een distributed in document WT/REG306/2 dated 
10 September 2012.  He proposed to organize the c onsideration of the Agreement by first asking the 
Parties and then other Members to give any general comments and then use the Factual Presentation, document WT/REG306/1, to guide the discussion.  
4. The representative of New Zealand thanked the Secretariat for the opportunity to provide a 
short introduction to the discussion on the New Z ealand-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement which had 
been signed in October 2009 and had entered into force in August 2010.  The Agreement represented 
a highly significant step in advancing the New Z ealand/Malaysia bilatera l trade relationship and 
further deepened New Zealand's engagement in the region.  Malaysia was one of New Zealand's top 
ten bilateral trade and investment relationships, as well as an important partner within the wider 
Asia/Pacific region, including in the APEC, East Asia Summit and WTO contexts.  The Agreement complemented New Zealand's FTA with ASE AN and Australia (AANZFTA) and supported New 
Zealand business connections with Mala ysia and across the wider region. 
5. The Agreement would liberalize and facilitate  trade in goods, servi ces and investment 
between New Zealand and Malaysia.  It established a clear framework to support the next phase of 
growth and development in their bilateral economic and trade rela tionship.  It was designed to 
facilitate growth in trade and business developm ent, encourage ease of doing business and promote 
economic cooperation and innovation.  WT/REG306/M/1 
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  6. The Agreement reduced barriers to bilateral trade in goods, with 99.5% of New Zealand's 
exports to Malaysia subject to ta riff elimination and 100% of New Zealand tariffs on Malaysian goods 
to be removed by 2016 - a quicker pace than wa s able to be agreed under AANZFTA.  Trade would 
also be made easier through trade-facilitating rules of origin, along with least-cost customs procedures, including provision for 48 hour cust oms clearance and self-declaration of origin for 
exporters.  
7. The Agreement also included commitments in other areas that marked it out as modern and 
forward-looking.  These included commitments on services, movement of business people and investment, as well as provisions covering rules of origin, cooperation on customs procedures, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade.  
8. The adoption of additional services trade commitments, over and above those secured under 
AANZFTA, formed an important part of the Agreement,  including in areas of in terest to New Zealand 
services providers such as education and environmenta l services.  This would deliver greater certainty 
and predictability to the Parties' services suppliers in developing th eir bilateral trade connections.  
9. The Agreement also outlined a number of ar eas for cooperation between Malaysia and 
New Zealand.  These included education, biotechnolog y, forestry, health sector, agri-technology, and 
manufacturing industry cooperation. Important pr ogress had already been made in education 
cooperation, with New Zealand and Malaysian qu alifications authorities having recognized each 
other's Bachelor's degrees earlier in 2012.  
10. The Agreement incorporated review provisions, bo th agreement-wide and in specific areas.  
The inaugural FTA Joint Committee had been pla nned for early in 2013 to ensure the smooth 
functioning and further development of the Agreement.  
11. The FTA Agreement was supported by agreemen ts on trade and the environment and trade 
and labour matters.  These Agreements acted to  enhance communication and cooperation in these 
areas and supplement similar instruments negotiate d previously with other ASEAN partners.  
12. New Zealand remained strongly committed to the multilateral trading system and to the 
importance of trade liberalization through negotiati ons under the WTO framework .  In this context, 
they viewed the pursuit of high quality regional trade arrangements such as the Agreement, as 
complementary and consistent with this very im portant multilateral framework.  By highlighting the 
benefits of liberalization, such agreements coul d make a useful contribution to moving multilateral 
trade negotiations forward.   
13. Malaysia thanked Members for the interest s hown in the Malaysia-New Zealand Free Trade 
Agreement (MNZFTA) through written questions during the examination of this Agreement.  They 
had duly provided the responses which had been circ ulated to Members prior to the meeting.  
14. In the last five years, Malaysia's trade with  New Zealand had recorded an upward trend with 
an average growth of 13%.  In 2011, Malaysia 's total trade with New Zealand amounted to 
US$1.7 billion, with exports of US$980.9 million a nd imports of $787.7 million.  Growth in total 
trade between the two countries had increased by 39.4% in 2010 and 9.1% in 2011.  Malaysia had 
been New Zealand's 9th largest trading partner in 2011, 3rd largest export destination and 2nd largest 
import source within the ASEAN region.  The Agreem ent was Malaysia's third bilateral FTA after the 
Malaysia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreemen t and the Malaysia-Pakistan Comprehensive 
Economic Partnership Agreement.  
15. The Agreement reflected the strong commitments of both countries to encourage growth in 
bilateral trade and investment as well as greater eco nomic cooperation.  It encompassed liberalization  WT/REG306/M/1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  in trade in goods and services, facilitation of investment, as well as enhancement of bilateral 
economic cooperation.  
16. In terms of trade in goods, Malaysia a nd New Zealand would progressively reduce or 
eliminate duties on their respective industrial and ag ricultural products.  By 2016, 100% of Malaysian 
products would enter the New Zealand market duty free.  The Agreement covered liberalization of 
trade in services in all four modes of supply.  Th e scope included: professional services;  computer 
related services; other business services; telecommun ications;  educational services; environmental 
services; veterinary services; health related and social services;  tourism and travel related services;  and transport services.  New Zealand had been and was an important source of foreign investment in Malaysia. Foreign direct investment from New Z ealand to date totalled US$43.9 million.  Major 
investments from New Zealand were in the sectors of paper, printing and publishing, electrical and 
electronic products, basic metal and fabricated me tal products, chemicals a nd chemical products and 
manufactured food products.  It was envisaged that the Agreement's framework, would further 
facilitate cross-border investments through commitm ents on national treatment, most-favoured nation 
treatment, as well as the protection of investors and investments.  
17. Malaysia highlighted that the FTA covered more than trade liberalization - including 
economic and technical cooperation, aimed at cap acity building.  One of the benefits of the 
Agreement for Malaysia came from its cooperation provisions such as in the areas of education, 
health, biotechnology, agri-technology, manufacturing industry and forestry.  To Malaysia, this was 
an important complement to improve trade and investment flows between the two countries.  
18. In conclusion, Malaysia thanked the Members that  had raised questions and looked forward to 
a fruitful discussion.  
19. The Chairman said that consideration of the Goods and Services Aspects of the Free Trade 
Agreement between New Zealand a nd Malaysia had allowed the Committee to clarify a number of 
questions and oral discussion of the RTA could be concluded in accordance with paragraph 11 of the 
Transparency Mechanism.  If delegations wished to ask follow up questions they were invited to 
forward submissions in writing to the Secretaria t by 27 November 2012 and Parties were asked to 
submit replies in writing by no later than 11 Decemb er 2012.  In accordance with paragraph 13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions , as well as minutes of this meeting would be 
circulated promptly, in all WTO official la nguages, and would be made available on the 
WTO website. 
20. The Committee took note of the comments made. 
 
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