Australia, NZ welcome ASEAN proposal

Australia, NZ welcome ASEAN proposal

WELLINGTON: Australia and New Zealand Thursday welcomed a proposal by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to seek negotiations later this year on free-trade deals with Australia and New Zealand.

"I haven't heard this through diplomatic channels yet, but if the report is accurate, it signals a welcome breakthrough in our relationship with Asean," New Zealand's Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton told The Associated Press in a statement.

"This is great news, and I look forward to exploring it further," he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also welcomed the prospect of free-trade talks, saying it would complement the country's bilateral deals with two Asean nations, Singapore and Thailand. The Singapore pact came into force last year and the Thai agreement will take effect next year.

Australia and New Zealand signed a Closer Economic Relations (CER) free-trade deal in 2002. Asean's 10-member states are linked by a trade pact.

Sutton said New Zealand had been working for a trade deal with Asean "for the past four or five years without getting more than incremental progress each year." -- Dow Jones