Inclusive Trade Action Group members New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico have committed to work together to ensure global trade is inclusive and sustainable, and keeps pace with emerging issues and current challenges.
The Tāmaki Makaurau Joint Declaration for Inclusive and Sustainable Trade was issued on the margins of the 7th Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacfic Partnership Commission Meeting in Auckland. This year New Zealand is Chair of CPTPP as well as of ITAG, and the Global Trade and Gender Arrangement (GTAGA) – ITAG’s first trade instrument.
Building on the 2018 Joint Declaration on Fostering Progressive and Inclusive Trade, the new Tāmaki Makaurau Joint Declaration commits the original partners, as well as new ITAG members Costa Rica and Ecuador, to new priorities for advancing inclusive and sustainable trade. This includes in areas that are important to New Zealand such as Indigenous economic empowerment, small and medium-sized businesses, women in trade, domestic regional development, as well as the environment and climate change.
The Joint Declaration includes a commitment to undertake another ITAG review of CPTPP within the next five years – an important mechanism to measuring progress in CPTPP on its inclusive and sustainable elements, and to inform next steps. ITAG members also agreed to consider integrating those results into feedback for the CPTPP General Review.
New Zealand and Canada have also each released three-year reviews evaluating the implementation of CPTPP since entry into force with an inclusive and sustainable trade lens.
New Zealand’s ITAG review revealed promising trends towards more inclusive and sustainable trade for Māori, women and SME exporters. The report is an early, but timely, review of how we are progressing to expand the inclusivity of our trade agreements.
In the margins of the CPTPP Commission, Australia announced an intention to join ITAG and the Global Trade and Gender Arrangement (GTAGA). This is a welcome development, and will build on New Zealand’s already close collaboration with Australia on inclusive and sustainable trade, across the World Trade Organisation, CPTPP, Indo Pacific Economic Framework and Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement.
Read the Tāmaki Makaurau Joint Declaration for Inclusive and Sustainable Trade [PDF, 217 KB].