Vice Minister Niu Dun Meets with Phil Heatley, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture of New Zealand

On Nov. 18, Niu Dun, Vice Minister of Agriculture, met with Phil Heatley, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture of New Zealand, who visited the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) for the first time. The two sides exchanged in-depth views on the issues of common concern, including the cooperation in fisheries and agricultural trade between the two countries.

Vice Minister Niu first extended warm welcome to Minister Heatley and his delegation. He noted that the two countries had witnessed smooth development of the bilateral relations as well as further and fruitful cooperation in the fields of agriculture and fisheries since they established diplomatic relations.

Niu said that both China and New Zealand, as members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), had played a positive role in promoting management and sustainable development of regional fishery resources. In order to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in fisheries, he put forward five suggestions: first, continue to enhance the collaboration in multilateral fishery mechanisms; second, establish a fishery cooperation mechanism between the two governments; third, increase the high-level visits and personnel exchange to facilitate the sharing of policies and technical information; fourth, win support of New Zealand for China s standpoint of according developing members the special and differentiated treatment in the WTO negotiations on fishery subsidies; fifth, ask for the understanding of New Zealand about China s concerns about the bilateral agricultural trade, and strive for win-win results from implementation of China-New Zealand FTA.

Minister Heatley fully agreed with Vice Minister Niu to his suggestions. He said that China was the first Asian country he had visited. New Zealand attached great importance to the cooperative relations with China, and considered China as its most important partner. He gave a brief introduction about conservation of marine resources in New Zealand, its collaboration with island countries in the Southern Pacific and some other aspects.

Officials from the Department of International Cooperation and the Bureau of Fisheries also attended the meeting.

(Date: 16:54 18 Nov. 2010)