On April 10, 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks with visiting Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key at the Great Hall of the People. Both sides reached important consensus on how to advance the comprehensive cooperative relations between the two countries in the new period.
Li said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations 40 years ago, China-New Zealand ties have made remarkable achievements and in particular both sides have worked together to create several "firsts" in the history of China's relations with developed countries. China and New Zealand have set a model for mutually beneficial cooperation between developing and developed countries, said Li. China is ready to work together with New Zealand to transcend the differences in cultural tradition and social system, build up mutual trust and enhance friendship in a bid to push China-New Zealand comprehensive cooperative relations for more results.
According to Li, China is striving to adjust its economic structure, break the bottleneck of resources and environment and transform and upgrade its economic development model in the opening-up process, while New Zealand enjoys the advantages of a strong green economy, so the two sides have favorable conditions and much room for cooperation on energy saving and clean energy. As the two countries are both located in the Asia-Pacific which is the world's most dynamic region with the greatest potentials, they should give full play to their respective advantages and steadily push forward pragmatic cooperation. Both sides should take the fifth anniversary of the signing of the China-New Zealand free trade agreement (FTA) as a new starting point to upgrade cooperation in agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry, cultivate finance, high-tech and other new growth points for cooperation and promote direct trading between their currencies. He urged both sides to reduce transaction costs, facilitate trade cooperation, enhance the level of cooperation, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation on food safety supervision, risk prevention as well as food production, processing and storage technologies. Li called for the two countries to create conditions for expanding two-way investment and boosting China-New Zealand trade relations in a comprehensive and balanced manner. China actively supports the Pacific island countries' sustainable economic development and attaches importance to New Zealand's important impact on multilateral affairs. The Chinese premier said China will enhance coordination with New Zealand on global governance and regional cooperation so as to promote regional peace and stability.
Key said a strong New Zealand-China relationship is crucial to his country. New Zealand will continue to deepen its partnership with China, adhere to the one-China policy and respect China's core interests. He pledged to enhance bilateral dialogue and build up mutual trust. He called for advancing bilateral economic and trade cooperation and fulfilling the target of 20 billion NZ dollars for bilateral trade by 2015. Both sides should also remain committed to enhancing bilateral cooperation in areas as agriculture and animal husbandry, finance, food safety, investment and education and boost personnel exchanges, he added.
Li briefed John Key on China's economic development. The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.
After the talks, the two prime ministers attended the signing ceremony of cooperation documents concerning education, agriculture, science, technology and visa.
Prior to the talks, Li held a welcome ceremony for John Key at the square outside the East Gate of the Great Hall of the People.