Premier Li Keqiang is greeted by New Zealand's Prime Minister Bill English. (Photo : Twitter)
Premier Li Keqiang went to New Zealand to enhance trade ties and expand an already advanced bilateral relationship.
Prime Minister Bill English announced that China and New Zealand will be upgrading their free trade agreement in April. The agreement has been in effect since 2008.
Premier Li said that the relationship will be "the first of its kind between China and a developed country." There is also a commitment from New Zealand that they will work together for the One Belt, One Road initiative.
He also signed nine deals that promised more support from China.
The premier wrote an article that was published in the New Zealand Herald entitled "To New Zealand, with love." Li wrote that the recent political climate of the world "has made it all the more important for China and New Zealand to work together to turn challenges into opportunities."
China is the second-largest exporter to New Zealand, next to Australia. New Zealand is also the first to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and encouraged the United Kingdom and Australia to join.
Both Li and English agreed to cooperate in goat exports and e-commerce. Other issues were also discussed such as steel dumping, dairy exports and the South China Sea dispute.
Li said that China is not dumping steel in New Zealand and that it has already decreased steel production.
English said that the talks on trade and steel dumping show "a sense of the robustness of the relationship. These are issues that get talked about in pretty testing ways, and that's how it should be."
New Zealand's Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment investigated an alleged steel dumping issue. The investigation revealed that China's steel is only 5 percent of the total supply in New Zealand.
On the subject of the South China Sea dispute, Li said that the topic was sensitive but will not affect the relationship between the two countries.
