December 23, 2020
Room for two at Maori trade table
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta sees room for two groups advocating for Maori on trade matters.
In a mediated settlement, claimants who came together to challenge the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement are being supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in trade to create a new body, which will have input into international trade negotiations.
Ngā Toki Whakarururanga would seem to be in conflict with existing trade group Te Taumata, but Ms Mahuta sees them as complementary.
She says the TPPA claimants were concerned at the protection of Treaty of Waitangi interests in things like matauranga Maori when it comes up against international agreements on intellectual property enforcement.
"Te Taumata has been established as a group to help support the communication of what free trade agreements deliver and also to communicate to the Maori economy who growingly want to participate in export trade because it is bringing back a higher value dollar into the Maori economy and has heaps of benefits for whānau," Minister Mahuta says.
She is keen to make foreign and trade policy more accessible, on the basis what is good for Maori is also good for women and diverse groups.
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