WELLINGTON (Xinhua): Brunei has entered a new trade agreement with New Zealand, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Switzerland as they launched a new trade and investment partnership on Tuesday.
The Future of Investment and Trade (FIT) Partnership, announced by New Zealand's Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay, also includes Costa Rica, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Rwanda, and Uruguay.
The FIT Partnership was established following 12 months of discussions and a quadrilateral Trade Ministers meeting in Switzerland in May 2025.
This move also comes after economic observers have said that US President Donald Trump’s on-and-off tariff policy threatens to depress global trade and stall economic growth, especially for small and open economies.
At the launch, which was also attended by WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the 14 partners issued a joint ministerial declaration setting out the partnership’s objectives, principles and priorities.
These reflect the partners’ belief in international trade and its role in driving prosperity, enabling growth and innovation, and building resilience against economic shocks.
The members agreed that the body will serve as an agile and informal platform to foster cooperation between private and public partners and catalyse new initiatives that address emerging challenges and opportunities in three domains – supply chain resilience; investment facilitation; and non-tariff barriers and trade facilitation.
The FIT Partnership will also act as an enabler of trade technology.
