A customer chooses products imported from New Zealand in Qingdao, Shandong province. (YU FANGPING / FOR CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING - China and New Zealand on Tuesday signed a protocol on upgrading their 12-year-old free trade agreement, which is expected to bring more benefits to the peoples of the two countries. 

Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and his New Zealand counterpart signed the protocol via video link.

For the trade of goods, the upgraded FTA will see both countries open their markets for certain wood and paper products and optimize trade rules, China's Ministry of Commerce said

In 2008, China signed an FTA with New Zealand, the first FTA between China and a developed country.

On the basis of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, China will further expand its opening-up in sectors including aviation, education, finance, elderly care, and passenger transport to New Zealand.

For the trade of goods, the upgraded FTA will see both countries open their markets for certain wood and paper products and optimize trade rules such as rules of origin, technical barriers to trade and customs facilitation, China's Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement.

New Zealand will lower its threshold for reviewing Chinese investment, allowing it to receive the same review treatment as members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The two sides have also pledged to strengthen cooperation in the fields of e-commerce, competition policy, government procurement, the environment and trade.

China remains one of our most important trade partners... . For this to take place during the global economic crisis bought about by COVID-19 makes it particularly important.

Jacinda Ardern, NZ PM

The signature of the protocol is a concrete action in China's practice of multilateralism and the construction of an open world economy, and marks an important step in implementing the FTA upgrade strategy, Wang said.

The two sides will promptly implement relevant domestic procedures so that the upgraded FTA can be operational as soon as possible, said the commerce ministry.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed the signing of an expanded trade deal with China, noting its significance amid the pandemic.

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“China remains one of our most important trade partners... . For this to take place during the global economic crisis bought about by COVID-19 makes it particularly important,” Ardern said at a news conference.

The agreement expands an existing trade deal with China and ensures it remains fit for purpose for another decade, New Zealand trade minister Damien O’Connor said in a statement.

With inputs from Reuters