Qatar and New Zealand’s economic cooperation was among the key areas of discussion, especially as the latter works on expanding its trade relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani held numerous meetings with top officials in New Zealand in a bid to boost Doha and Wellington’s relations.
The meetings, which took place on Wednesday, included ones with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, and Minister for Trade and Export Growth Todd McClay.
According to Qatar’s foreign ministry, the meeting between Sheikh Mohammed and Luxon dealt with the developments in the Gaza Strip and the enhancement of Doha and Wellington’s relations.
“Thank you [Luxon] for the warm welcome on my first visit. Our discussion on our relations, especially economic ties and mutual investment opportunities, serves as a new start for us. I look forward to joint efforts to achieve our ambitions,” Sheikh Mohammed said on X.
New Zealand’s prime minister separately thanked Sheikh Mohammed “for his exceptional leadership” alongside Egypt and the United States in mediating between Israel and Hamas.
“I thanked him for his exceptional leadership, together with Egypt and the United States, in pursuing an urgent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. I reiterated my call on parties to the conflict to agree a deal without any further delay,” Luxon said on X.
The senior Qatari official and New Zealand’s foreign minister also expressed their support for joint efforts aimed at supporting “global peace and security”.
“In our meeting we confirmed that we will continue joint efforts to strengthen the rules-based international order and support global peace and security,” Sheikh Mohammed said on X.
Economic cooperation
Qatar and New Zealand’s economic cooperation was among the key areas of discussion, especially as the latter works on expanding its trade relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Luxon previously described Qatar as “a growing trade partner” of New Zealand, with the annual bilateral trade exceeding $90m.
“We’re both committed to concluding the NZ-GCC Free Trade Agreement. We also identified some bilateral trade, technology and investment opportunities,” Luxon posted on X following his meeting with Sheikh Mohammed.
The GCC is also New Zealand’s eighth-largest trading partner, with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia standing as its key markets. The Gulf region is New Zealand’s largest export destination, with 2023’s exports totalling NZ$2.47bn (around $1.7bn).
New Zealand’s imports from the GCC also amounted to NZ$453m (around $278m), as per figures published by its government.
Negotiations between the GCC and New Zealand over a Free Trade Agreement started between 2007-2009, though the first round of discussions on the matter took place in 2022.
The fifth round of negotiations took place between May and June 2023 where technical working groups discussed the goods market access and labour and environment issues.
