RNZ newsletter overlooks new research agreement – and ‘matauranga Maori’ is missing from news of this agreement
RNZ’s daily newsletter this morning featured news that – a year after the breakthrough agreement on a free trade deal with the European Union – “pen has finally been put to paper with its signing overnight.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the deal as a trailblazer across several areas.
Trade Minister Damien O’Connor, speaking before the signing, said New Zealand has secured a “bloody good deal” after a tough negotiation.
But a bloody good deal does not mean all New Zealand exporters are celebrating. Meat and dairy industry leaders have expressed disappointment.
There were grumbles in Europe, too.
French MEP Thierry Mariani took to Twitter to lay bare the major failings behind the pact.
He lashed out at the “joke” FTA, adding: “18,534km between Paris and Auckland. In New Zealand, five million inhabitants, but 30 million sheep.
“For a small market, we’re going to flood the EU with meat… with a record carbon footprint for the journey. Our farmers sacrificed once again to the cult of free trade.”
But the trade agreement wasn’t the only signing on the PM’s agenda during his visit to Europe.
The RNZ newsletter this morning made no mention of it, but a press statement posted on the government’s official website says:
The Prime Minister and the EU President Ursula von der Leyen witnessed New Zealand and the European Union signing the Horizon Europe Association agreement in Brussels overnight.
“The agreement gives access for New Zealand researchers to Europe’s largest ever science collaboration platform, and creates opportunities for New Zealand’s interests and expertise to be demonstrated on the world stage,” Chris Hipkins said.
The agreement will widen the scope for New Zealand scientists to work overseas and allow them to work more closely with their European counterparts on some of our most pressing problems such as climate change and energy.
The NZ-EU FTA, it’s fair to say, has much greater implications for New Zealand’s economic wellbeing than the research agreement.
This is reflected in the headline on the press statement from the Beehive – EU FTA to increase NZ exports to the EU by $1.8 billion a year – and in news media coverage.
But a bloody good deal does not mean all New Zealand exporters are celebrating. Meat and dairy industry leaders have expressed disappointment.
There were grumbles in Europe, too.
French MEP Thierry Mariani took to Twitter to lay bare the major failings behind the pact.
He lashed out at the “joke” FTA, adding: “18,534km between Paris and Auckland. In New Zealand, five million inhabitants, but 30 million sheep.
“For a small market, we’re going to flood the EU with meat… with a record carbon footprint for the journey. Our farmers sacrificed once again to the cult of free trade.”
But the trade agreement wasn’t the only signing on the PM’s agenda during his visit to Europe.
The RNZ newsletter this morning made no mention of it, but a press statement posted on the government’s official website says:
The Prime Minister and the EU President Ursula von der Leyen witnessed New Zealand and the European Union signing the Horizon Europe Association agreement in Brussels overnight.
“The agreement gives access for New Zealand researchers to Europe’s largest ever science collaboration platform, and creates opportunities for New Zealand’s interests and expertise to be demonstrated on the world stage,” Chris Hipkins said.
The agreement will widen the scope for New Zealand scientists to work overseas and allow them to work more closely with their European counterparts on some of our most pressing problems such as climate change and energy.
The NZ-EU FTA, it’s fair to say, has much greater implications for New Zealand’s economic wellbeing than the research agreement.
This is reflected in the headline on the press statement from the Beehive – EU FTA to increase NZ exports to the EU by $1.8 billion a year – and in news media coverage.
Latest from the Beehive
New Zealand and the European Union’s collaboration on research, science and innovation will mean greater access and opportunities for Kiwi researchers, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Minis
New Zealand and the European Union have overnight signed a ground-breaking Free Trade Agreement that will provide significant new trade access to our fourth-largest trading partner.
Kiribati communities are gearing up to celebrate Tungaru language this week, as Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati – Kiribati Language Week 2023 gets underway.
Ko Puanga tērā kua ara ake ki te uru – e kānapa mai ana ki te tihi o te maunga tītohea – e ka tanuku nei! E ka tanuku nei! Ahaha!
The Beehive Bugle Brigade has highlighted three matters in their statement on the free trade agreement:
- Duties removed on 91% of New Zealand’s goods exports to the EU from entry into force, rising to 97% after seven years.
- Tariff savings of $100 million per year on New Zealand exports to the EU from day one – the highest immediate tariff savings of any New Zealand FTA. This includes the removal of tariffs on products like kiwifruit, Mānuka honey, fish and seafood, onions, wine and industrial products.
- Significant new quota access for beef, sheep meat, butter and cheese – worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year if filled.
Like cheese-making, good things can take time.
“The EU FTA will increase our exports to the EU by up to $1.8 billion per year by 2035,” Chris Hipkins said.
“Tariff savings on New Zealand exports are $100 million from day one of the agreement entering into force, the highest immediate tariff saving delivered by any New Zealand FTA. That’s around three times the immediate savings from the UK FTA.”
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor said the NZ-EU FTA will cut costs and support exporters to grow and diversify their trade.
“It will provide significant new opportunities for our world-leading exporters of products such as kiwifruit, seafood, onions, honey, wine, butter, cheese, beef and sheep meat. This new access will help to accelerate our post-Covid recovery, while providing a boost to our regions as they grapple with the longer-term effects of Cyclone Gabrielle,” Damien O’Connor said.
“Based on current trade figures New Zealand will have the opportunity through combined FTA and WTO quotas to provide up to 60 percent of the EU’s butter imports – up from 14 percent today. New Zealand cheeses could also make up 15 per cent of the EU’s imported cheeses, up from 0.5 percent today, which is no mean feat for a small nation like ours.
“The FTA also builds on our already sizeable WTO quota for sheep meat, meaning that if farmers use this new access, we could account for up to 96 percent of EU imports. This provides further trade resilience for our exporters, while expanding by eight-fold our access for beef.”
The press statement notes that the FTA contains another important ‘EU first’ that New Zealand worked hard to secure – a Māori Trade and Economic Cooperation chapter “that will create a platform for greater engagement with the EU on Māori economic and trade interests”.
The government expects the NZ-EU FTA will take effect in the first half of 2024, once both parties complete the final required legal steps.
For more information on the NZ-EU FTA go to www.mfat.govt.nz/eufta
The ministry website tells us more about the Māori Trade and Economic Cooperation chapter:
Māori Trade and Cooperation – a new modality for New Zealand-EU engagement
New Zealand and the European Union agreed a “Māori Trade and Cooperation” chapter in the FTA that will provide a valuable new platform to advance Māori economic aspirations in the EU.
The chapter acknowledges Te Tiriti/The Treaty as a foundational document of constitutional importance to Aotearoa New Zealand, and references Māori concepts including Te Ao Māori, Mātauranga Māori, Tikanga Māori, Kaupapa Māori, Tāonga and Wāhine Māori to achieve wellbeing.
It provides a definition for ‘mānuka’ as the Māori word used exclusively for the Leptospermum scoparium tree grown in Aotearoa New Zealand and derivative products such as honey and oil. It describes ‘mānuka’ as culturally important to Māori as a tāonga and traditional medicine.
The cooperation areas in the chapter include collaborating to enhance the ability for Māori enterprises to benefit from the Agreement’s trade and investment opportunities, strengthen links between EU and Māori enterprises (with a particular emphasis on SMEs), supporting science, research and innovation links, and cooperating on geographical indications.
But Point of Order could find no mention of Māori or of matauranga Māori in the press statement on the research cooperation agreement. Perhaps this oversight will become a matter of grievance among the officials and researchers who zealously promote the application of indigenous knowledge to New Zealand science and research.
In this statement, Prime Minister Hipkins notes that New Zealand is signing on to an “association” with European researchers.
New Zealand has “associated” to Pillar Two of Horizon Europe, which has funding of €53.5 billion (approximately NZ$90 billion) over the 2021 to 2027 period, Hipkins says.
Pillar Two focuses on global challenges like climate change, energy, health and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“Association is the closest form of cooperation with the Horizon Europe research programme available to non-EU countries. It gives our scientists the opportunity to lead major research programmes in areas of global significance.”
This statement includes …
Notes for editors:
- New Zealand and European researchers already enjoy a strong collaborative relationship across a wide range of topics. In 2022, 19.5 percent (3,601 out of 18,475) of New Zealand publications were produced in collaboration with EU member states. Before the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU in 2020, this figure was around 26 percent.
- New Zealand researchers have been participating in EU research programmes for years. New Zealand researchers were awarded 23 grants under Horizon Europe’s predecessor, Horizon 2020, over the programme’s seven-year duration.
- Researchers are expected to be more successful under Horizon Europe over a shorter period. MBIE estimates 40-50 successful grants over the five years of association, a 20 percent success rate from an estimated 220 applications.
- MBIE has been notified of 12 Horizon Europe funding bids from New Zealand research organisations to date. They are part of research consortia seeking approximately €69 million (NZ$120 million) funding with around €7.3 million (NZ$12.7 million) for New Zealand partners. Proposals are spread across most of the Pillar Two thematic clusters with a concentration around the food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment cluster and the health cluster.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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