On the afternoon of June 13 local time, Premier of the State Council Li Qiang held talks with Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon at the Government House in Wellington.
Li Qiang said that his current visit to New Zealand coincides with the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s visit to New Zealand and the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two sides. Over the past decade, no matter how the international situation has changed, China and New Zealand have always respected each other with an inclusive spirit and focused on cooperation for common development, making significant progress in bilateral relations and setting many “firsts” in cooperation. Li said that China is ready to work with New Zealand to carry forward the traditional friendship and the spirit of “striving to be the first”, jointly promote development, and further upgrade the comprehensive strategic partnership to deliver more benefits to the two peoples.
Li Qiang pointed out that the development of China and New Zealand means opportunities, not challenges to each other. The two sides should stay partners committed to mutual respect and mutual trust, mutual benefit and mutual learning, and solidarity and coordination. China is ready to work with New Zealand to continue to scale up trade, tap into the potential of cooperation in such fields as digital economy, green economy, new energy vehicles and creative industry, and jointly promote regional economic cooperation. The two sides should work to remove the disturbance of non-economic factors to bilateral trade and economic relations, and provide stable expectations and a sound business environment for the operation and development of companies. China welcomes more New Zealand businesses to invest and do business in China. China is ready to include New Zealand into China’s unilateral visa-free policy, and hopes that New Zealand will provide more convenience for Chinese citizens to visit New Zealand. Both China and New Zealand are firm in supporting multilateralism, and both support free trade and building an open world economy. The two sides should strengthen communication and coordination in multilateral settings, and encourage all parties to pull in the same direction toward win-win cooperation.
Luxon said that over the past decade since the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between New Zealand and China, the two sides have enjoyed robust growth in trade and economic relations and close personnel exchanges to the benefit of the two peoples. New Zealand firmly adheres to the one-China policy, and is ready to strengthen dialogue with China at both the top and other levels, further deepen cooperation in fields like agriculture, food, creative industry and environmental protection, strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and promote sustained and in-depth development of bilateral relations. New Zealand is ready to strengthen law enforcement cooperation with China, promote coordination and cooperation within such multilateral frameworks as APEC, and work together with China to address global issues like climate change.
The two prime ministers agreed that China-New Zealand relations have made satisfactory progress. The two sides will continue to view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, expand bilateral trade and investment cooperation, deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade, and promote sustained, sound and stable development of bilateral relations. The two sides also agreed to launch negotiations on the negative list of trade in services.
After the talks, the two prime ministers jointly witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation documents in such fields as service trade, business environment, export of agricultural and food products to China, science and technology, patent examination and migratory birds protection, and jointly met the press. The two sides also issued a joint statement on the outcomes of the meeting.
Before the talks, Prime Minister Luxon held a grand welcome ceremony for Premier Li on the north lawn of the Government House in Wellington. The New Zealand side first welcomed Premier Li with traditional Maori rituals. After that, Premier Li stepped onto the reviewing stand, and the military band played the Chinese national anthem, and a 19-gun salute was fired on site. Premier Li reviewed the guard of honor.
Governor-General of New Zealand Cindy Kiro and her husband attended the welcome ceremony.
Wu Zhenglong was present at the above events.
