The Government is refusing to confirm reports out of Chile that ministers from the twelve countries which negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement will sign it in New Zealand on 4 February.
Duty minister Simon Bridges says arrangements for the TPPA signing were not yet confirmed as some countries are still working through their domestic approval processes.
Labour leader Andrew Little says given the negative effect the trade pact has on New Zealand’s sovereignty, it would be an insult to sign it on the eve of Waitangi Day, when this country celebrates its sovereignty.
TPPA critic and Auckland University Professor Jane Kelsey says the Government knows the deal does not have popular support, so it wants to limit the chance for New Zealanders to make their opposition heard.
‘Consistent with the government’s obsessively secrecy throughout the TPPA process, we have to get confirmation of what is happening in our own country from offshore’, she says.
On January 26 at the Auckland Town Hall speakers including Lori Wallach, the director of Washington based Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, will talk about the TPPA.
She will also speak in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
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