On June 30, 2022, President von der Leyen of the European Commission and Prime Minister Ardern of New Zealand met in Brussels.
The meeting gave us the chance to reaffirm our long-standing partnership with Aotearoa New Zealand, which includes democratic ideals and interests, agreement on critical global and regional issues, strong people-to-people links, and expanding and mutually advantageous trade and economic ties.
The leaders underlined the European Union’s and New Zealand’s steadfast support for multilateralism and the rules-based international system.
The leaders once again underlined their unshakable support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders while vehemently denouncing Russia’s unprovoked and unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine.
They urged Russia to stop its indiscriminate assaults against people and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine right away and to remove all of its military personnel and supplies from the country’s entire territory.
Additionally, they urged Belarus to quit aiding and abetting Russia’s aggressive conflict.
They emphasized the need for establishing accountability for the suffering and devastation in Ukraine and denounced the numerous, reliable reports of atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers.
They urged Russia to grant prompt humanitarian access and ensure the safety of all impacted citizens.
Additionally, they urged Russia to permit the prompt safe return of Ukrainians who had been forcibly deported there.
They noted the close collaboration between the EU and New Zealand in regards to the imposition of previously unheard-of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, the diplomatic reaction in multilateral organizations, and other means of aid to Ukraine.
They reaffirmed their will to deal with Russia’s misinformation campaigns as well as the worldwide repercussions of its aggression on Ukraine, including food insecurity.
In this regard, the EU and New Zealand are committed to cooperating in order to enhance global supply chains and keep food and agricultural markets open and functional.
The president declared that discussions for a comprehensive trade agreement, which includes a number of “firsts,” had come to an end.
Consumers, small and large enterprises, and farmers in New Zealand and the European Union will profit significantly from the agreement as our economies struggle with the ongoing effects of Russia’s military action against Ukraine and the recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.
The agreement’s groundbreaking commitments to trade, sustainable development, the Paris Climate Agreement, fundamental labour rights, gender equality, and fishery subsidies were praised by the leaders.
The addition of a new chapter on Mori Trade and Economic Cooperation was also welcomed by the two leaders.
They gave excellent marks for the liberalization of environmental goods and services connected to mitigating climate change as well as the ground-breaking collaboration agreements to increase the sustainability of our respective food systems.
They pledged to swiftly complete all necessary domestic procedures in order to sign, ratify, and implement the agreement as quickly as feasible.
They reaffirmed their support for the World Trade Organization as a key tenet of the international economic order.
The leaders welcomed the conclusion of the EU-New Zealand Partnership Agreement on Relations and Cooperation ratification process and anticipated its impending application to strengthen partnership on a wide range of issues, such as climate change, global peace and security, research, and innovation.
The leaders reaffirmed their dedication to seeing the Paris Agreement targets met and the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5°C in reach by ensuring that the pledges made at COP26 in Glasgow are fully implemented.
They emphasized the necessity of hastily speeding the creation of tangible national policies and initiatives.
In order to achieve this, they vowed to intensify and advance their dialogue and cooperation on climate change, including in regards to climate finance and support for the needs of vulnerable Pacific Island Countries in terms of adaptation and energy transition, and to think about working together on initiatives to support Just Energy Transition Partnerships in Asian nations.
They decided to move forward with coordinated efforts on programs addressing climate change, including the Global Methane Pledge and the High Ambition Coalition, as well as on emissions trading schemes and the sustainability of the carbon market.
They emphasized the significance of addressing the biodiversity problem and reaffirmed their commitment to COP15’s goal of achieving an ambitious and revolutionary global biodiversity framework for the years after 2020.
The importance of an open, inclusive, secure, and thriving Indo-Pacific was reaffirmed by the leaders.
The leaders committed to enhance coordinated engagement with the region following the EU’s approval of its Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
The importance of ASEAN’s role in the area and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which upholds values like the rule of law, openness, freedom, transparency, and inclusivity, was emphasized by both leaders.
The leaders reaffirmed that the EU and New Zealand are committed to promoting a peaceful, stable, prosperous, and resilient Pacific, acknowledging that climate change is the single greatest danger to the life and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific.
They are committed to stepping up coordination and individual efforts on challenges related to climate action, good governance, human rights, sustainable development, and security, including in the context of the EU’s Global Gateway investment strategy.
This commitment is in line with priorities led by the Pacific.
They reaffirmed their willingness to exchange knowledge, support the affected nations, and put strategies in place to prevent, reduce, and deal with loss and damage brought on by climate change in the area.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to working together on agricultural issues and declared that the EU and New Zealand would strengthen their current partnership in the context of an annual International Strategic Agriculture Dialogue that would concentrate on common issues relating to sustainable agriculture and agricultural trade.
In this regard, they vowed to exchange knowledge and best practices in this crucial area of climate action and to support developing nations in their efforts to reduce agricultural emissions while enhancing food security.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to working together on issues like seabird bycatch mitigation, biodiversity on the high seas, the creation of new marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean, and the regulation of harmful fisheries subsidies in order to ensure the protection and sustainable use of oceans and fisheries.
This includes combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing wherever it occurs. The new WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement was warmly welcomed, and leaders reaffirmed their intention to finishing the open disciplines before the WTO’s Thirteenth Ministerial Conference.
The leaders praised the good R&I collaboration between the EU and New Zealand and hailed the end of exploratory discussions between the European Commission and New Zealand over the nation’s affiliation with Horizon Europe, the EU’s Framework Programme for R&I.
The leaders expressed their desire for official negotiations to begin this fall in Europe and to be completed quickly.
Prime Minister Ardern acknowledged the EU’s position as New Zealand’s primary vaccine provider with reference to COVID-19. Both presidents vowed to keep pushing for equitable access to and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.
They reaffirmed their support for ongoing discussions on a new piece of legislation with a strengthened World Health Organization at its center to improve pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
The leaders expressed their continued commitment to the shared fight against crime and terrorism and hailed the signing today of an agreement between Europol and New Zealand on the exchange of personal data.
While ensuring a high degree of protection for fundamental rights, including data privacy, the agreement will boost law enforcement collaboration. In particular, Europol will be able to assist New Zealand authorities in battling terrorism, organized crime, child sexual abuse, and cybercrime.
The leaders recalled that the EU and New Zealand support and defend a free, open, global, interoperable, dependable, and secure internet, as well as the ethical and responsible use of digital and emerging technologies, as well as the realization of human rights online, including high standards of privacy and data protection.
They promised to continue working together to strengthen democratic resilience online, combat disinformation, and advance responsible state behaviour in cyberspace.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to combating the challenges presented by terrorism and violent extremism online on behalf of the EU and New Zealand.
As part of the Christchurch Call, they want to create a powerful and inclusive multi-stakeholder community including the government, civil society, and digital businesses to address the causes of radicalization.
They also want to keep strengthening their crisis response capabilities.
They anticipate making more strides on these issues when they attend the Christchurch Call Leaders’ Summit later this year.