Trade Relationship Anniversary

In 1983, New Zealand and Australia signed the Closer Economic Relations trade pact, and this year, on the 25th  anniversary of the agreement, chief economist of the Australian Trade Commission Tim Harcourt reflects on a first of its kind. Considered a model for dismantling trade barriers and harmonising regulations between two economies, New Zealand and Australia are now more economically dependent than ever before and in some ways operate as a single trans-Tasman market. Trade commissioner in Sydney for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Tim Green, says: “CER has effectively created a single regional domestic market five times the size of the NZ market by itself.”